A 31-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to preparing an act of terrorism at Manchester Crown Court. Mohammad Bashir had planned an attack on the U.K.’s Defense Academy in Oxfordshire alongside an associate who later carried out a separate, fatal stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester on October 2.
The Defense Academy plot came to light during the investigation into the synagogue attack. Bashir’s associate, who carried out the October attack, had believed the United Kingdom was training Israeli Defense Forces personnel. In the months preceding the synagogue incident, Bashir had driven his associate to the academy location in Shrivenham to conduct surveillance. During their planning, the two men discussed methods of entry to the base, weapon selection, and the use of a fake suicide vest. A judge stated that both men had anticipated they would be killed in the attack and intended to cause mass casualties.
The synagogue attack occurred on October 2 at Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester. The attacker drove a vehicle into people gathered outside the building and fatally stabbed one man. A second death occurred when another man was shot by police during efforts to secure the building. Three additional individuals sustained serious injuries. The attacker, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, was killed by police at the scene.
Bashir left the United Kingdom two days after the synagogue attack and was arrested at Manchester airport in November upon returning from a family wedding in Pakistan. Greater Manchester Police disclosed that evidence of the planning communications came from phones seized from the attacker during earlier arrests in 2025. Police leadership acknowledged that a failure to review available data before the October attack represented a missed opportunity and issued an apology for the oversight. The Independent Office for Police Conduct is expected to determine whether earlier discovery of the evidence could have prevented the fatal incident.
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