Islamic State supporters jailed after undercover police operation
A judge has praised an undercover police officer who infiltrated a group of British supporters of so-called Islamic State to gather evidence.
Group leader Mohammed Alamgir, 37, was jailed for six years at the Old Bailey for inviting support for IS.
Speeches made by Alamgir and four other men in Luton were secretly recorded by the officer, known only as Kamal.
Judge Michael Topolski QC said he had displayed "considerable resourcefulness and even greater courage".
He said the evidence he had gathered had played a "pivotal role" in the case and that it was not difficult to imagine the fate "that might befall him had he been exposed".
The court heard how the men had made speeches at a marquee and a church hall.
The judge described how Alamgir, of Kenilworth Road, Luton, spoke in June 2015 at St Margaret's Church "of the sun setting on the British Empire and the sun trying to rise on the Islamic State".
Sentencing him, the judge said: "You are in my judgement deeply committed to an a extreme and violent Jihad mindset.
"You are in that sense a dangerous man."
Rajib Khan, 37, of Biscot Road, Luton, was jailed for five years, and Yousaf Bashir, 36, of Dane Road, Luton, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Mohammed Choudry, 23, of Laggan Road, Maidenhead, was jailed for four years.
Judge Topolski said: "In the cases of Alamgir, Khan, Bashir and Choudry, I am entirely satisfied that they revealed in their indicted speeches and indeed elsewhere, opinions which were clearly supportive of terrorism and specifically of IS."
The court heard how Ziaur Rahman, 39, of Ferndale Road, Luton, was also convicted of arranging the meetings at which there were children present.
He was sentenced to two years and six months.