Did he plan to bomb Heathrow? Airport plot central to US terror case sentencing

A judge said Monday she’s inclined to believe the US government when it says a Vietnamese man plotted to carry out a suicide bombing of London’s Heathrow Airport.

The statement by US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan forced a postponement of the sentencing of Minh Quang Pham as his defence attorney requested more time to decide how best to change the judge’s mind.

Which way the judge leans could be pivotal in determining whether Pham serves closer to the minimum 30 years in prison he faces or the 50 years in prison requested by prosecutors.

Pham, 33, pleaded guilty in January to terrorism charges, admitting he provided material support in 2011 to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group has called on followers to attack civilians and has taken credit for coordinating attacks overseas, including the January 2015 Paris attack on the French publication Charlie Hebdo, which killed a dozen people.

Pham did not agree during his plea to government claims he plotted in 2011 to carry out a Heathrow attack, and no attack occurred.

But as Pham’s sentencing hearing began, the judge told lawyers: “My inclination is to accept the government’s version of the facts.”