Man arrested outside Israeli embassy shouted he wanted to 'make crimes', court hears

A man with two knives shouted "why are you stopping me from making crimes?" as he was arrested trying to break into the Israeli embassy in London last year, a jury has heard.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were shown CCTV footage of Abdullah Albadri from Kuwait being held by armed diplomatic protection officers as he was trying to climb the fence around the mission.

His defence case is likely to be that he was not trying to enter the embassy for a terrorist purpose, and that he was carrying the knives "for a good reason" unrelated to his activities that day, jurors were told.

Albadri, 34, denies the charge of preparing terrorist acts and two charges of possession of a bladed article.

The trial is expected to end next week.

Albadri had twice entered Britain from France in a small boat. Firstly in August 2021, and then again last year - just 16 days before his arrest outside the embassy.

The jury watched the footage of Albadri walking from Kilburn in north-west London to the Israeli embassy on Kensington Palace Gardens on 28 April 2025.

For the whole hour-long journey he was wearing a red-and-white traditional Palestinian scarf wrapped around his head and mouth, and sunglasses.

Because of the presence of the Israeli embassy, security on Kensington Palace Gardens is very tight with a permanent police presence. Officers first became aware of Albadri when he knocked on the window of a Kuwaiti embassy car, the court heard.

With his face still covered by the scarf, Albadri is then seen in the footage calmly approaching the 2.3 metre (7.5 ft) high black metal railings just outside the embassy and jumping on to them in an apparent attempt to climb over them.

He is quickly pulled down by two armed diplomatic protection officers guarding the embassy - PC Nicholas Cox and PC Libby Chessor - who drag him onto the ground, where he is then held down and handcuffed by five officers: one of them in plain clothes, with a handgun on his belt.

PC Chessor told the jury that Albadri had made a hand gesture "like a salute" just before he jumped onto the railing.

On police body-worn video footage Albadri can be heard saying: "I'm gonna come again."

When PC Cox asks him: "Have you got anything on you that's gonna poke me?", Albadri replies: "I got my weapons."

The court was told that officers discovered two small knives with red-and-white handles in his pockets.

Albadri says: "I wanna make a crime inside there. Why are you stopping me? Why are you stopping me from making crimes?"

Later he adds: "Why didn't you let me in?"

Albadri's lawyer said he then added "and then do what you want to do".

He is also heard to swear and say "they need to stop" the "war on children".

Earlier the same afternoon, the jury heard, Albadri had WhatsApped his mother a picture of a handwritten note next to a knife with a red-and-white handle.

The note ends with the message: "I will not go back on my decision to go in the cause of Allah, to come out for His sake and to stand up to the enemies in order to support the religion of Allah Almighty."

In a subsequent message to his mother, he wrote: "I chose the path of martyrdom".

The handwritten note was found on him at the time of his arrest, the jury heard.

The trial continues.