Three gangsters who plotted to sell a gun to a terrorist as he planned a deadly attack in Hyde Park in central London have been jailed. Tyler King, 21, Caleb Wenyeve, 21, and Reis Forde, 27, were all part of the deal for 22-year-old Edward Little to buy a firearm and bullets for £5,000. Little was travelling in a taxi from Brighton to London to collect the weapon when he was intercepted by anti-terror police on September 23 last year.His target was a Christian preacher at Speaker’s Corner and he had spoken of his desire to get a gun in encrypted chats on the Threema messaging platform, the Old Bailey was told.At one point, he wrote: “I don’t think there has been an attack in the UK with guns so a semi-automatic rifle would send a (sic) even stronger message.”
Little, of Pelham Street, Brighton, has admitted preparing terrorist acts and is awaiting sentence at the Old Bailey next month. At Inner London crown court on Monday, King, Wenyeve, and Forde were sentenced for conspiring to provide him with a gun, which had been made into a viable lethal weapon. “Although they didn’t know Edward Little’s plan to commit a terrorist attack with the firearm, they entered into an agreement with Little to sell him a fully functioning gun and live ammunition”, said Detective Chief Superintendent Olly Wright, head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East. “They went a step further by sending a video of the working mechanisms of the weapon as proof to the buyer that it was a viable firearm.
“This organised crime group was unravelled quickly. The case is a prime example of the skill of our teams in counter-terrorism Policing and our determination to disrupt and bring to justice criminals whose activity could facilitate terrorism or harm our national security. All cases linked to terrorism will be vigorously pursued and brought before the courts.”
King, of Denmark Hill, Lewisham, was jailed for 10 years and nine months for conspiracy to transfer a prohibited firearm, possession of a prohibited firearm and three counts of possession of ammunition without lawful authority.
Wenyeve, of Blidworth Close, Strelley in Nottingham, was jailed for 12 years for conspiracy to transfer a prohibited firearm along with Forde, who was jailed for 13 years and six months.
All three were cleared at trial of conspiring to supply a firearm with intent to endanger life.
