Nineteen-year-old Norwegian Johannes Natland, who travelled to the United Kingdom to carry out an assassination, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

An Old Bailey judge handed down the sentence on Friday, after finding him guilty of conspiracy to murder following a trial earlier in 2026 and an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London.

The defendant, born on March 7, 2007, must serve a minimum of 13 years in custody, which should run concurrently with another five-year sentence, after he previously pleaded guilty to possession of firearms and ammunition.

The head of CTP London, Helen Flanagan, said counter-terrorism police and Norwegian law enforcement arrested Mr Natland hours before he was due to carry out the assassination.

Ms Flanagan said Mr Natland was “clearly being tasked” by a member of the Foxtrot Network, an organised criminal group linked to attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of Iran.

She, however, said the intended target of the assassination was yet to be identified, and that investigators “found no evidence of any direct link to Iran in this case.”

“One of the tactics increasingly used by foreign states seeking to cause harm to the UK is the use of criminal proxies. They often recruit people online with promises of significant financial reward,” Ms Flanagan said.

In March 2025, the police arrested Mr Natland at a hotel after arriving at Manchester Airport two days earlier. They found with him a bag containing two firearms, a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and 19 bullets, inside a plastic bag under his bed.

CTP London detectives analysed CCTV of the airport and the hotel, which established he had travelled in a taxi to a wooded area of Huddersfield where he picked up the firearms.

Messages on his phone showed he had been given exact instructions, including maps, pictures and videos, of where the ‘hide’ containing the bag of guns was located.

Further analysis of his digital communications by CTP London officers also revealed that he received messages on social media while he was in Norway, asking him to carry out a shooting in the UK, after which a €25,000 payment was suggested.

He was also said to have received instructions from someone using the username ‘Agent 47’ while on the flight to the UK. The person told Mr Natland what to do upon arrival, directed him to an address in Huddersfield to collect money, and then gave him the name of a hotel to book a room in.

Mr Natland had claimed he was not intending to carry out the assassination. He was instead intending to “shoot himself in the foot” to avoid repercussions if he refused the mission.

The jury, after hearing the evidence gathered by the CTP investigation throughout the trial, found him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.

The CTP London has continued its investigation to identify the suspects who helped Mr Natland obtain the firearms and a stolen car.