Teenager jailed for plot to blow up dad Published duration 12 January 2018

image copyright NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY image caption The National Crime Agency said Randhawa was a "significant risk"

A teenager has been jailed for trying to buy explosives on the dark web in an attempt to kill his father.

Gurtej Singh Randhawa, of Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, was arrested in 2017 after he received a parcel he thought was a remote-controlled explosive.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Randhawa, 19, ordered the device after his mother found he was having a relationship with a girl she disapproved of.

Jailing him for eight years, the judge said he showed "astonishing audacity".

A trial in November heard how police swapped the delivery Randhawa had ordered with a dummy package.

He had wanted to buy the device via the dark web, a network of hidden websites

Randhawa was found guilty of maliciously possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life and had earlier admitted attempting to import explosives.

The court was told the A-level student, a former pupil at Wolverhampton Grammar School, had accepted an offer to study medicine at Liverpool University.

'Significant risk'

Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told Randhawa: "You are plainly highly intelligent and capable of determined manipulation.

"I have no doubt that this offence was motivated by your desire to live with your girlfriend and attend university together.

"How the major changes in your life that you wished for were to be achieved, included endangering the life of your father by setting off an explosion.

"This was an offence of astonishing audacity."

Tim Gregory, from the NCA's Armed Operations Unit, said Randhawa's actions showed "he is someone who poses a significant risk to the community".

Andy Young, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Gurtej Randhawa attempted to purchase explosives which could have resulted in deaths or serious injuries had they been used."

Related Topics Dark web

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