A teenager from the Isle of Wight, who was detained for seven years after looking up the Isle of Wight Festival as a potential terror attack target, has been spared an increased sentence, after pleading guilty to attacking and threatening custody staff with improvised weapons.

The 16-year-old admitted four counts of common assault, six counts of assault on an emergency worker and eight counts of possession of an offensive weapon in prison, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said his decision gave the defendant “a light at the end of the tunnel” as he sentenced the youth to a combined 12 months detention and training order (DTO), to run concurrently alongside his current sentence.

The court heard the defendant assaulted two custodial workers at a secure children’s home, at the beginning of June 2023, weeks before his original crown court trial date for terrorism offences.

The youth smashed a plastic jug and managed to conceal pieces of it, despite being patted down and having his room searched.

He used these shards to threaten and to assault custodial staff, with one worker suffering cuts to their hand, elbow and finger.

After these incidents, on June 14, the decision was made to move the youth to a detention centre, court heard.

In the detention centre, the youth went on to make and use more improvised weapons to assault and threaten custodial staff, between June and December 2023.

Mr Goldspring said the scope of the “planned and targeted” attacks meant some form of punishment was necessary to “mark their seriousness,” and to act as a deterrent.

Addressing the defendant, he said: “You are so young that you will spend a significant part of your most important years in custody.

“Welfare dictates that I give you some light at the end of the tunnel – in other words, some focus in rehabilitation.”

On April 15, the boy was sentenced to seven years’ detention, after a trial at Kingston Crown Court found him guilty of terrorism offences.

The court heard the youth, who was 15 at the time, had researched the Isle of Wight festival as a potential terror attack target, looked up weapons, vehicles and stab vests, and obtained a knife by July 2022.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied three counts of disseminating terrorist publications, engaging in conduct in the preparation of terrorist acts, and possessing a bladed article in a public place, between June 18 and July 11, 2022.

The material he was accused of sending contained links to extremist videos, which included beheadings.

His plans were eventually foiled by the FBI, which alerted UK counter-terror police that a user of the messaging app, Discord, was plotting an attack on July 11, 2022

After discarding the festival as a target, because he could not drive, nor had a vehicle, the teenager went on to draw up plans to stab people, court heard, earlier this month.

The boy was arrested in Ryde, on July 11, 2022. 

He was diagnosed with autism and became increasingly more radicalised after he converted to Islam in 2021, court was told.

When arrested, the boy was found with a knife and notes that contained information relating to his plan.