A former Uber driver has been found guilty of terror offences after planning massacres at busy London tourist hotspots.
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday more than a year after he was cleared of a samurai sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace.
The court heard Chowdhury, from Luton, was driven by "dreams of martyrdom" as he planned gun, knife and van onslaughts on targets like Madame Tussauds, the gay Pride parade and an open-top sightseeing bus last year.
But the 28-year-old, who worked in a chicken shop, was caught after unwittingly confiding his plans to undercover police who had him under surveillance during a five-month operation.
Police said they believe he tried to stall detectives to buy time for another extremist to commit an atrocity before he realised his fellow conspirator was an undercover officer.
Preparing for his atrocity, Chowdhury lifted weights, practised stabbing and rehearsed beheading techniques, his trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard.
He also booked shooting range training and tried to acquire a real gun.
During his trial Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said the defendant was "motivated by dreams of martyrdom for the cause of Islam, and inspired by preachers of hate" such as former al-Qaeda spokesman Anwar Al-Awlaki.
Mr Atkinson told the court that he had been found not guilty at the Old Bailey of a terror charge after attacking police officers with a sword outside Buckingham Palace in August 2017.
During that incident, two unarmed officers were wounded when they fought to disarm him near the Queen's London residence as Chowdhury shouted repeatedly "Allahu Akbar", which means God is the greatest.
After being cleared at the Old Bailey in December 2018, he was planning to kill tourists in London by 2019 and his sister Sneha Chowdhury, 25, did nothing to stop him, according to Mr Atkinson.
The prosecutor said Chowdhury had even bragged that he had deceived the jury which had acquitted him at his previous trial.
He remained emotionless as jurors found him guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, collecting information likely to be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.
The second charge related to a document titled 'guidance for doing just terror operations' on his phone which included instructions on how to kill people with knives.
His sister cried as she was convicted of one count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism and cleared of another count of the same charge.
Jurors deliberated for eight hours and 39 minutes before returning their verdicts.
The brother and sister hugged in the dock and Chowdhury, dressed in a blue shirt and tie, could be heard whispering: "It's all right."
He will be sentenced by judge Andrew Lees on March 13 while she was bailed for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
His defence barrister Simon Csoka QC had argued the university drop-out was a "pathetic little man" and an "attention-seeker" who "talks and talks, but doesn't do".
Chowdhury also dismissed his praise of the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the murder of soldier Lee Rigby as "jihadi banter" and said his weapons training came from a fascination with martial arts and weightlifting.
But Mr Atkinson said Chowdhury desired to "unleash death and suffering" on non-Muslims.
The extremist, who had martyrdom notes posted on his bedroom door, had the intention "to kill and harm as many people as possible", Scotland Yard counter terror commander Richard Smith told reporters.
Chowdhury told one undercover officer known only as Mikael he was free to attack one million unbelievers if he was fighting for "the pleasure of Allah" and stressed the importance of an "ambush", saying: "They shouldn't know what hit them", the trial heard.
The officer had tried to gain the full trust of Chowdhury by telling him he had a gun and would carry out his own atrocity imminently.
In a secretly taped recording from June last year, Chowdhury can be heard saying: "If you're one man and there's a million kuffar (unbelievers), you are free to fight them, if your intentions are clear, you're fighting for the pleasure of Allah.
"And if you die that's completely fine, it's even more virtuous, you know.
"The weapons are a must, these firearms, it's a 100% ... just make sure you have clips, Akhi ('brother'), you have enough clips, know what I'm saying."
He later added during the conversation: "It must be an ambush ... we should be the one doing it first, they shouldn't know what's hit them, yeah, does that make sense?"
Chowdhury, of Kirkwood Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, was arrested three days before the London Pride parade last summer.
The prosecution described his sister as "loyal, much put-on and long-suffering" but also as someone who was "aware of all he was saying to her and what it meant".
