A Muslim convert has been found guilty of preparing for terrorist acts after threatening to “flatten” a mosque and plotting to attack an Islamic cleric who was an outspoken critic of terrorism.
Video footage released by West Midlands Police after Jason Savage was convicted showed the 35-year-old filming reconnaissance near a mosque in Wright Street, Small Heath, Birmingham.
On the video, Savage, from Fourth Avenue, Small Heath, recorded himself saying: “That seems like the best way to get away – the police will probably come from that way.”
As well as charting different routes into the mosque, Savage, who had adapted the handle of a knife found at his home, was heard to say: “Just needs the means now.
“Ask Allah to give man the means bro.”
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for five hours and 48 minutes before unanimously convicting Savage on Thursday of a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts on or before March 14 last year.
A three-week trial was told Savage was arrested shortly after sending online messages to someone he did not know was an undercover officer, saying he was waiting to see what “opportunities come to present itself”.
Jurors also heard that Savage had taken screenshots of the West Midlands Police headquarters, police stations in Perry Barr and Stechford and various military locations in Birmingham, and told the undercover officer he was putting his neck on a “chopping block”.
Opening the case for the Crown on January 14, prosecutor Peter Ratliff alleged that Savage had planned to commit and film an attack.
He told the court the defendant converted to Islam at some point in the 2010s and followed an “extreme and violent” part of the Salafi movement of which organisations such as al Qaida and so-called Islamic State were “particularly notorious” examples.
Prosecutors alleged that Savage had carried out reconnaissance with a view to attacking a cleric, bookstore and mosque in the Small Heath area, whose approach to the Salafi movement was “entirely at odds” with his own.
The mosque, store and publishing house advocated a strand of Salafism that stresses the importance of non-involvement in social or political activism, the court heard, while the cleric was an “outspoken critic” of Islamist terrorism, arguing that it was entirely incompatible with the true essence of Islam.
Taking the jury through social media posts and other messages written by the defendant, Mr Ratliff said: “One of those he was in contact with was, although he didn’t know it, an undercover officer.
“A key feature of the defendant’s words and writings was his real disapproval of ‘disbelievers’ – but particularly those he considered were false followers of Islam.”
By February 2024, the court heard, Savage was referring to watching knife-fighting techniques on YouTube and posted a video of Osama bin Laden.
Mr Ratliff said Savage claimed the mosque he filmed outside needed “flattening” and spoke about how his alleged targets were to be “hunted down”.
Jurors also heard that at some point in early 2024 Savage broke the handle off a kitchen knife and replaced it with cloth, before changing his social media status to “Lone Wolf”.
On March 11, the court heard, Savage went to the area around the mosque and recorded three mobile phone videos.
Two days later, the jury heard, Savage made internet searches about homemade firearms and ammunition, including pipe guns, nail guns, firing pin mechanisms and shell casings.
His conduct also included research into the manufacture of components of firearms and the “lethal use of knives”.
Savage was remanded in custody by Mrs Justice Farbey, who ordered pre-sentence and psychiatric reports to be prepared before sentencing on April 11.
