Salih Khater: Terrorist who ploughed into cyclists and police outside Parliament is jailed for life

James Morris15 October 2019

A copycat terrorist who ploughed his car into cyclists and police outside Parliament has been jailed for life.

Salih Khater, 30, was given a minimum term of 15 years at the Old Bailey on Monday.

Khater, of Birmingham, launched the attack on the morning of August 14 last year.

Mrs Justice McGowan said Khater had deliberately copied other terrorists as she jailed him.

Parliament Crash - In pictures

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She said: "Your undoubted intention was to kill as many people as possible and by doing so spread fear and terror.

"You replicated the acts of others who undoubtedly have acted with terrorist motives. You deliberately copied those others.

A court artist sketch of Salih Khater
Elizabeth Cook/PA

"It was an attack on strangers and police officers at the seat of democracy in this country."

She added: "You are dangerous in that you present a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public in the future.

"Even acting alone, you acted for a terrorist purpose. All the evidence is consistent with that conclusion."

Khater circled Parliament Square four times before accelerating his Ford Fiesta at a group of cyclists waiting at traffic lights.

Leaving several of them wounded on the ground, Khater then rammed his car into a police barrier at a side entrance to the Houses of Parliament as two officers desperately dived out of the way.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan had told the court that Khater, an asylum seeker from Sudan, had wanted to “cause maximum death and injury”. But those hurt miraculously survived.

Khater claimed at the trial that he came to London to find the Sudanese embassy to get a visa but "got lost" around Westminster and panicked.

A jury rejected his explanation for the crash and found him guilty of two charges of attempted murder in July.