LONDON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A confessed British al-Qaida sympathizer and terror attack plotter has been sentenced to a minimum 40-year prison sentence in London.
Muslim convert Dhiren Barot, 34, glared at High Court Justice Neil Butterfield as the sentence was handed down Tuesday, The Times of London reported.
The judge noted Barot had entered a guilty plea to plotting to bomb strategic places in Britain and the United States, including the use of a radioactive "dirty bomb" as far back as 1995.
Prosecutors said the al-Qaida attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, diverted most of Barot's attention to the British plots in recent years.
"Your intention was not simply to cause damage, panic or fear. Your intention was to murder but it went further," Butterfield said. "It was designed to strike at the very heart of democracy and the security of the state."
Britain's domestic MI5 intelligence identified Barot as a terror suspect in June 2004, but he disappeared soon after.
He resurfaced Aug. 5 and was arrested as he waited for a haircut, The Telegraph reported.
