LONDON (VINnews) — A failed asylum seeker who tried to climb the fence of the Israeli Embassy in London while carrying two knives was sentenced Monday to life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years.

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Abdullah Sabah Albadri, 34, a Kuwait-born man of no fixed address, was convicted at the Old Bailey of preparing terrorist acts under the Terrorism Act 2006 and of possessing two bladed articles. Mrs. Justice Lambert imposed the life sentence on the terrorism count and a concurrent term of one year and six months on the knife offenses. The court adjusted the minimum term to account for time already served on remand.

Armed officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command stopped Albadri on April 28, 2025, as he tried to scale the gates at the embassy on Kensington Palace Gardens. Officers pulled him down before he could enter the grounds. A search found two knives with blades about 4 inches long and a handwritten note about martyrdom, prosecutors said.

Albadri had arrived in Britain by small boat from France about 16 days earlier. It was his second illegal crossing: he had entered by small boat in August 2021, applied for asylum and left for France before a decision. Asylum was later refused.

Jurors heard that he walked from Kilburn toward the embassy wearing sunglasses and a red-and-white head covering, then made a salute-like gesture and jumped at the fence shortly before 6 p.m. Body-worn video played at trial showed him telling officers he wanted to “make a crime” inside and asking why they were stopping him. In a later interview he said he wanted to do something to stop the war and spoke about children being killed in Gaza. Prosecutors said he intended to attack people at the embassy in revenge for deaths in Gaza. People were leaving the building at the time, the court was told.

Albadri denied planning to kill or injure anyone. The jury rejected that account and convicted him by majority verdict in May after nearly 14 hours of deliberation.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said officers’ swift action kept Albadri from breaching the security perimeter and prevented a terrorist attack.

Albadri, born Dec. 28, 1991, showed no visible reaction as the sentence was read, according to reports from the hearing.