A dangerous extremist who attempted to build an army of child jihadists by radicalising pupils has been convicted of a range of terrorism offences.

Umar Haque, 25, taught an Islamic studies class despite having no teaching qualifications and being employed as an administrator. He was allowed to supervise classes of 11- to 14-year-olds on his own, during which he re-enacted attacks on police officers and showed students videos of beheadings.

Police fear Haque attempted to radicalise at least 110 children, some of whom he was in contact with at the Ripple Road mosque in Barking, east London. Thirty-five of the children are receiving long-term support.

Haque also worked at the £3,000-a-year Lantern of Knowledge Islamic school, where he was again allowed access to children alone under the pretence of teaching Islamic studies when he was in fact employed as an administrator.

Jurors were told he attempted to radicalise children at the school, but were unable to agree on a count of disseminating a terrorist document which related to his time at the school.

Haque was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday of a number of offences, including plotting terrorist attacks. He had previously admitted four charges of collecting information useful for terrorism and one count of disseminating a terrorist document in relation to his attempts to radicalise children at the mosque. He was acquitted of conspiring to possess firearms.

Two other men, Abuthaher Mamun, 19, and Muhammad Abid, 27, were convicted for their roles in helping him. A fourth defendant, Nadeem Patel, 26, who had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a handgun, was acquitted of plotting with Haque.



After he was found guilty, Haque shouted “I want to say something”, but officers dragged him out of the dock.



The judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, said he would be sentenced later.

The schools watchdog, Ofsted, faces questions over how it was able to rate the Lantern of Knowledge school as outstanding after an inspection held at a time when Haque was allegedly preaching hate to the children.

The Charity Commission confirmed on Friday that it has opened a statutory inquiry into the Lantern of Knowledge Educational Trust. The commission is also investigating the Ripple Road mosque.



“His plan was to build an army of children,” said Commander Dean Haydon, the head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard. “He had shown them graphic terrorist videos of barbarity, beheading videos and serious injuries mostly in terrorist attacks overseas.

“He had instructed children not to say anything in relation to not telling their teachers or their parents. We had a wall of silence.

“He tried to prepare the children for martyrdom by making them roleplay terrorist attacks in London. Part of that re-enactment including attacking police officers.”

Haque was employed at Lantern of Knowledge from September 2015 to September 2016 as an administrator but also carried out duties as a classroom assistant. He allegedly used his laptop in the school to project images of guns, knives, beheadings and passports being burned on to a whiteboard, the court heard.

He was also involved in running evening classes in a madrasa based in a large marquee attached to the mosque in Ripple Road in late 2016 and early 2017.

He told the boys, aged about 12 to 14, that he had established contact with Isis and showed them a series of videos projected on to the wall inside the marquee, ensuring the doors were closed.

The images included blood, wounds and people falling from buildings. One film showed the exhumation of a boy. Haque told the children the child’s body had deteriorated because he had been beaten after death when he was unable to answer questions put to him by angels.

He also had the children in the madrasa doing push-ups, races and grappling with each other in order to train them.

There were sessions of roleplaying during which the children would be divided into police and attackers, and there were demonstrations of how to sever a head. After the Westminster Bridge attack by Khalid Masood last March, Haque used the atrocity as inspiration for the roleplays.

He said he intended to teach the children to drive as they got older so he could carry out attacks across London. He forced them take an oath not to tell their parents, friends or teachers, and it is claimed he aimed to recruit 300 jihadists.

The 35 children in long-term support were “paralysed in fear” by Haque, Haydon said. “He threatened them if they were to talk. It doesn’t appear that any of those children raised the alarm.”

Six children gave evidence in court. The trial was shown video of a police interview with a child, who said: “He is teaching us terrorism, like how to fight.”



The boy said: “He has been training us, kind of. Apparently fighting is good. If you fight for the sake of Allah, on judgment day when you get judged for your good deeds and bad deeds, fighting is good.”

Ofsted inspectors visited the Lantern of Knowledge school in November 2015, two months after Haque started working there. In their report, they said: “The strong sense of community, harmony and respect within the school reflects the school ethos and aims of leaders and governors to develop well-rounded citizens.

“The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils is outstanding. They have an excellent understanding of the world around them and make a positive contribution to their community.”

Haque was stopped at Heathrow airport in April 2016 as he attempted to board a flight to Istanbul, a well-trodden route to Syria for aspiring Isis recruits. As a result of searches conducted of his phone, he had his passport revoked the following month and police began investigating him.

He and three others were later arrested and charged with planning attacks . Further charges related to attempting to radicalise children were filed a few months afterwards. Haque had a long-term plan to launch terrorist attacks on a wide range of possible targets including the Queen’s Guard, parliament and media organisations.

Last June, Ofsted made an emergency inspection at the Lantern of Knowledge school in response to concerns about safeguarding children. On this occasion, the inspectors found it had not met regulatory requirements.

After an announced inspection in December, Ofsted reduced all of its ratings from outstanding to “requires improvement”.

The report said: “Leaders do not ensure that training about risk assessments and procedures to support pupils’ welfare are applied consistently enough during some routine activities.”

The Charity Commission inquiry will look at the school’s general administration, governance and management by the trustees, including the management and supervision of staff at the school with access to children or young people. It will also examine the charity’s policies and procedures, including those relating to safeguarding.

Ofsted’s chief operating officer, Matthew Coffey, said it was a matter of deep regret that Haque was able to work with children.

“Ofsted is committed to protecting children from harm, including radicalisation,” he said. “However, our ability to do so is hampered by limitations on our powers. We have no ability to inspect out-of-school settings, such as madrasas, and we believe greater powers in this area could help keep children safe in the future.

“We know the government is keen to address these matters and welcome their commitment to closer working.”