'James Bond fantasist' who wanted to kill his family jailed for nine years

An unemployed man who wanted to kill his own family has been jailed for nine years after trying to buy grenades from an undercover officer.

Mohammed Abdus Shamad Chowdhury, 24, from Haggerston, east London, had written notes to himself in which he laid out his fantasy of blowing up a school and killing his whole family.

In court, Chowdhury tried to claim that he was playing a part in a “James Bond fantasy” but he also admitted acting erratically, “losing it” over small things, “going ballistic” and having “meltdowns”.

Sources say he had been repeatedly violent towards his own family, throwing punches and threatening them with knives, and the police had been called, leading to a grievance over how he was handled.

In prison phone calls after his arrest, Chowdhury told his family he wanted to throw a grenade at Bethnal Green Police Station, because he wanted “revenge”.

He was caught by a police sting in February last year as he tried to hand over £300 in cash at a B&Q car park in Leyton to an undercover officer pretending to be a black market arms dealer.

Three months earlier, Chowdhury had been arrested for threatening a man with an axe outside a tube station after he was jostled in a crowd.

Alistair Richardson, prosecuting, told the jury at the Old Bailey: “There are times where the defendant is an extremely angry, unpredictable and dangerous man. He cannot control that anger, nor can he control his reactions when he feels he is wronged.”

Judge Philip Katz QC jailed Chowdhury for nine years for explosives offences and three years concurrently for possession of documents useful for terrorism.

The judge said Chowdhury was not radicalised “in the religious or political way seen in so many other cases” but was “deeply immersed in the digital world of violence”.

“Any reasonable and fair-minded lay person [would] describe you as highly dangerous,” he told Chowdhury.

In 11 prison phone calls to his mother and sister, Chowdhury was recorded making repeated threats about what he wanted to do if he was released.

Mr Richardson said the prison transcripts demonstrated a man “whose temper is out of control, and who will act on his angry impulses”.

The judge told him the recordings were “deeply concerning” and showed he seemed to “work yourself up into repetitive rages despite all the efforts of your sister and mother to calm you down”.

On 19 November 2019, Chowdhury was pushed by a man who was behind him outside Stepney Green Underground Station.

Chowdhury initially ran off but returned immediately with a short-handled axe in his hand, which was tied to his body by a length of cord.

He brandished the axe, waving it around, at a second man who ran off, then hid the axe under his clothing.

He pleaded guilty to having a bladed article in a public place and was given a suspended sentence.

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