An Uber driver drove towards police outside Buckingham Palace before he tried to attack them with a samurai sword because he wanted to ‘be in paradise with Allah’, a court heard.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 27, skidded his car through cones outside the palace and as two police officers got out of a passing police van, he pulled out the sword and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’, jurors were told.

PC Ian Midgley opened the door to the Toyota Prius and wrestled the sword from the suspected terrorist while ‘fighting for his life’.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, a suspected terrorist who attacked Buckingham Palace police drew ‘posters’ in prison of an officer being shot by a man shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Picture: SWNS)

PC Midgley told the Old Bailey in London: ‘I’ve done this job for 20 years and that was the only occasion I have had to right for my life.’


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‘I grabbed towards the top of it, right below the T part. He started shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and it became clear I had grabbed something extremely sharp, it started cutting into my hand.



‘He was punching me in the face. I thought if I put my head down, then at least he’ll get the top of my head.’

Chowdhury wrote a ‘martyrdom note’ to his sister which said ‘the Queen and her soldiers will all be in hellfire’ before his attack around 8.30pm on 25 August, 2017, the court was also told.

British national had also researched terrorists including Khalid Masood, the Westminster Bridge attacker, who he described as a ‘martyr’, it was said.

PC Ian Midgley said it was the first time in his 20-year-long career he had ‘fought for his life’ (Picture: PA)

He drew ‘posters’ in prison of an officer being shot by a man shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as well as a plane hitting the Twin Towers, the jury was also told.

He had also changed his WhatsApp picture to an Isis flag and wrote messages of support for the group, it was claimed.

Prosecutor Timothy Cray told of the incident: ‘Two uniformed officers in the van, PS Gavin Hutt and PC Ian Midgley, got out to see what was going on and their initial thought was, “well, maybe the driver is drunk or on drugs”.

‘But as events over the next few minutes were to prove, this defendant had something far more serious in mind.’

The incident took place outside Buckingham Palace (Picture: Getty Images)

Part of the note written by Chowdhury said: ‘Tell everyone that I love them and that they should struggle against the enemies of Allah with their lives and property.

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‘The Queen and her soldiers will all be in the hellfire. They go to war with Muslims around the world and kill them without any mercy.

‘They are the enemies that Allah tells us to fight.’

Mr Cray continued: ‘They were approaching a man who was armed with a sword, who had left a martyrdom note, saying he was going to become a martyr and who had expressed hatred towards the Queen and her soldiers, who for this purpose, I think we will see in the defendant’s mind includes the police.’

Chowdhury’s sword (Picture: Central News)

PC Midgley cut his hand on the sharp weapon (Picture: Central News)

Mr Cray added: ‘It was due to the bravery and quick reaction of these uniformed police officers that something even more serious did not happen.

‘As the police officers got to the car the defendant said to them words to the effect, “it’s all a bit fucked up”.’



The ‘short but fairly desperate struggle’ ended when the officers snatched the sword away, with PC Midgley sustaining a cut to his hand, the jury heard.

Mr Cray said: ‘During this the defendant was shouting the words, Allahu Akbar over and over again.’

Picture from the scene on 25 August, 2017 (Picture: Getty Images)

During an interview, Chowdhury admitted the events and said he saw police as people who do ‘the dirty work of the UK government’, the court heard.

Jurors were told there was ‘no dispute’ about the incident which happened outside Buckingham Palace, but Chowdhury denies it was an act of terrorism.

Mr Cray said: ‘He is saying in effect that all he wanted to do was get himself killed, to commit suicide by being shot by the police.’

The jury was told he kept his sympathies for Isis ‘away from his family’ but that his sister, Sneha, had spotted some of his messages of support.

Ambulances and police emergency response teams rushed to the scene (Picture: Getty Images)

He had searched ‘beheadings in Chechnya’, ‘beheadings carried out by Isis’ and for information about Jihadi John, the jury heard.

Chowdhury, from Luton, accepts he drove his car to the palace then brandished a samurai sword but denies one count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

The Old Bailey heard he claims he was trying to trigger a ‘death by cop suicide’ not a terror attack.

The trial continues.

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