A fanatic who planned an Iraq-style kidnap and beheading of a British soldier plucked from a Birmingham street was jailed for life yesterday. Parviz Khan, 37, pleaded guilty to the plan, that was disrupted in January last year and which UK counter-terrorism officials believe was backed by al-Qaida. The aim was to convulse Britain’s armed forces with fear and show the terror group could still strike at the heart of Britain. Khan was the leader of a Birmingham-based terror cell which, for three years, had shipped equipment to terrorists in Afghanistan. In 2006 he hatched a plan to kidnap a Muslim soldier serving in British forces, video his beheading and broadcast it over the internet. He was caught discussing the plot via an MI5 bug placed in his home. Covert recordings captured Khan bragging about cutting the soldier’s head off “like a pig”, before burning the body and sending the video to terror leaders based in Pakistan. Khan was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in jail. The jury heard he had even indoctrinated his five-year-old son, teaching him to express his love of Osama Bin Laden and to call for the death of Bush and Blair. Khan talked of marrying off his three-year-old daughter to a terrorist and also referred to the July 7 suicide bombers as “brothers”.
