Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, from Norway, was sentenced on Friday 16 October 2026 to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to murder. He must serve at least 13 years. The Metropolitan Police announced the sentence at the Old Bailey. NRK reported from Woolwich Crown Court, where he was brought from custody.

Natland was arrested in the early hours of 19 March 2025 at a hotel in Huddersfield, two days after landing at Manchester Airport. Under the bed police found a bag with a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and 19 bullets. He had pleaded guilty to possessing firearms and ammunition; that drew five years, concurrent with the main term. The conspiracy conviction came in July, after a jury trial.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said that if police had not intervened, he would have done what he agreed, as shown by his messages and actions. She weighed his mental state and drug use but did not treat them as a free pass. “This was not an impulsive act. You had repeated chances to pull out. You took part willingly, rather than through coercion. But you were more vulnerable than an adult.”

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the arrest came hours before a planned assassination, after work with West Yorkshire Police, CTP North East and Norwegian authorities. He was being tasked by someone in the Foxtrot network. The intended target was never identified. Officers found no evidence of a direct link to Iran in this case, she said.

Phone messages showed instructions, maps and videos pointing to the firearms “hide”. While still in Norway he was asked to carry out a shooting in the UK, with €25,000 suggested. A Signal user, “Agent 47” — whom Swedish police link to Foxtrot figure Ali Shehab — told him which flight to take, where in Huddersfield to collect money, and which hotel to book. In court Natland said he meant to shoot himself in the foot to duck the job. The jury found him guilty.

Norwegian lawyers Farid Bouras, Saqib Razaq and John Christian Elden want the sentence served in Norway. Razaq called 20 years very severe for someone arrested at 18. Two teenagers convicted in September at Sør-Rogaland district court for recruiting and supporting him received youth sentences of one year and seven months, and one year. University of Oslo law professor Jo Stigen said 20 years, with a 13-year minimum, sits closer to what Norway can actually administer than a 30- to 40-year term would have.

Image: Bill Henderson, the Old Bailey, London, 28 September 2018, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons / Geograph. The court building, not the 16 October 2026 hearing.

Sources consulted: Norsk 19-åring dømmes til 20 år for drapsplaner i England — NRK Rogaland; Teenager who travelled to UK to carry out murder sentenced to 20 years — Metropolitan Police.