Student who wanted the black flag of the Islamic State to fly over Downing Street is jailed

University student David Souaan who spent his Christmas holidays with Islamist fighters in Syria has been jailed for 3-and-a-half years in a young offenders institution

The 20-year-old was arrested at Heathrow on his way to Syria with an iPhone video showing a throat-cutting murder.

During his trial the jury was told the video was "so graphic and so shocking" it could not be played in open court.

It showed a young man on his knees with his head held back having his throat cut.

Souaan, a global politics and international relations student at Birkbeck College, was found guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism in Syria.

He went to Syria at least twice in December 2009 and December 2010 according to stamps in his passport. During one visit he sent a WhatsApp message to friend saying "Hello from Syria" with an image of him sitting on part of a destroyed building.

He had been known at university as "a nice, quiet, softly-spoken young man and a devout Muslim."

But it was clear that the last visit to Syria had changed him radically.The student spoke of radical Islam and showed friend photos of him in combat gear and with a gun with next to other armed men.

When he was arrested at Heathrow, Souaan was found to have a video with a man, possibly himself making reference to the wish of Muslim extremists to see the black flag of the Islam flying one day over Downing Street.

Souaan's mother is a Christian from Serbia and his father is a Syrian Muslim.

He arrived in the UK in September 2012 on a visitor's visa but this was extended into a three-year student visa in October 2013.

In mitigation his defence barrister told the court he was naive and was never involved in terrorism in Syria, the pictures of him with guns was him merely showing off and he had a Christian former girlfriend.