A teenage Islamist fanatic was caught in the streets of London with a hammer and knife on his way to behead a British soldier, a court heard. Brustholm Ziamani, 19, was stopped and found with the weapons wrapped inside an Islamic flag and had researched a series of military bases around London. He had planned to behead a soldier in an echo of the soldier Lee Rigby killing and to hold the head up so he could be photographed, the Old Bailey court heard. He had earlier shown an ex-girlfriend the large hammer and 12 inch knife shortly before his arrest and told her he was planning a terrorist attack and would "kill soldiers". After his arrest he told a security officer at a police station that he had been on his way to "kill a British soldier at an army barracks," prosecutor Annabel Darlow said. "He stated that he was going to behead the soldier and hold his head up in the air so that his friend could take a photograph." Ziamani was arrested in August 2014 but had only converted to Islam in the spring of that year and was "swiftly radicalised", the court heard. In a letter recovered by the police, he waged war against the British government and wrote: "You want war, you got it. British soldiers heads will be removed and burned. U cannot defeat the Muslim we love to die the way you love to live." On the first day of his trial, the jury heard how Ziamani the two men who murdered Drummer Rigby just a year earlier, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were his "idols". Ziamani told his teenage girlfriend in April last year that he wanted to die a martyr and that he had agreed with what happened to Mr Rigby. He described killer Adebolajo as a "legend", the court heard. The girlfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ended her relationship as a result of the conversation following which Ziamani threatened to "wipe her out". He went by the name Mujahid Karim on social media and in May last year posted on Facebook that Sharia Law was on its way to the streets of the UK. He added: "We will get Dem kufar (non-beliveers) soon, we r soliders of Allah." He also posted an image of a T-shirt with the logo of the video computer game "Call of Duty", which he later said referred to his duty to promote Islam by the sword of jihad. He said he hated it when people called him a moderate Muslim or liberal. He also played down the murder of Mr Rigby, posing in June: "Why are they acting like Lee Rigby's death was the worst death ever. He just got run over n stabbed left right centre. "I bet if an Englishmen did it they wont say nuffin or make a big deal over it but two muslim brothers run over dis kaffar n now makin a big deal." The jury heard how police had previously found a five-page letter belonging to Ziamani after attended a flat in Camberwell in June. Addressed to his parents, he said what he was "about to do is an obligation". He said because he had no way of getting to Syria or Iraq he would "wage war against the british government on this soil the british government will have a taste ov there own medicine they will be humiliated this is ISIB Islamic States of Ireland and Britain." He warned: "You people will never be safe Brits and americans Russian thousands upon thousands ov muslims due daily. "Now we will take a thousand ov yours then tens thousands and send you all to hell-fire. You want war you got it British soldiers heads will be removed and burend u cannot defeat the muslims we love to die the way you love to live. "My fellow muslim brothers these people want war lets kill them slaughter them and implement sharia in our lands and UK. "Kill every gay, every Shia, every les." He said that: "Lee Rigby is burning in hell woow im dying good for him this is what you get for voting Cameron and democracy." He gloated how Mr Rigby's family were paying for his killers to be locked up. He called on his "hell-fire brothers" to "pick up your swords gins bombs take off there limbs we should do a 9/11 and 7/7 and Woolwich all in one day everyday for eight years." He said he wanted to "die a martyr" adding: "Do not fear dz people at all shoot them all in the face n the chest burn the pubs." Earlier in the month Ziamani had researched a number of army cadet centres in south London. They were Camberwell army cadets, London Irish Rifles Association, Lewisham army cadets and the Army Cadet Force in Blackheath.
