A terror plotter who planned to kill a soldier before posing with the decapitated head has had his sentence slashed due to his age.

Brustholm Ziamani, 20, planned to pose with a severed head as a 'trophy' alongside an Islamic flag.

The Muslim convert was said to be 'hours away' from executing his bloodthirsty plan before he was arrested in east London in August 2014.

Ziamani was jailed for 22 years at the Old Bailey last March after being found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism.

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But his sentence has now been cut by three years at the Court of Appeal - because it was too much for someone his age.

Police found a knife and a hammer with wich Ziamani planned to carry out the attack (
Image:
PA)
Ziamani planned to pose with a severed head and an Islamic flag found at his home (
Image:
Getty)

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Sir John Thomas, said: "This offending was towards the very top end of the scale for offences under section five [of the Terrorism Act] but, given his youth, we consider that the custodial part of the sentence, namely 22 years, was too long."

The extremist, who was groomed by members of a radical Islamic organisation, had researched the locations of Army cadet bases in southeast London as well as detailed information about Lee Rigby's killing.

The 20-year-old has had his sentence reduced due to his age (
Image:
© Guy Corbishley / Alamy)

When police searched Ziamani's house during an unrelated investigation in June 2014, they found handwritten notes vowing that 'British soldiers' heads will be removed' as he '[waged] war against the British government'.

Another note stated: 'We should do a 9/11 and a 7/7 and Woolwich all in one day every day for eight years.'

During his trial at the Old Bailey he claimed he never intended to carry out a terror attack and was only joking when he boasted about it to his ex-girlfriend.

A hate-filled letter written by Ziamani described how he wanted to kill 'non-believers' (
Image:
Metropolitan Police)

Ziamani, who enjoyed the hobbies of boxing and parkcour before converting to Islam in n the spring of 2014, was brought up a devout Christian by his strict parents, who are both Jehovah's Witnesses and come from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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As a child he was taken to knock on people's doors to 'proselytise and evangelise' in an attempt to convert them to his religion.

His faith meant he never had a birthday or celebrated Christmas.

Ziamani planned to behead a soldier in a copycat execution to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby (
Image:
PA)

But when his father found photographs of girls on his Facebook page, Ziamani was excluded from the Church and kicked out of the family home.

Ziamani 'went off the rails' and began to commit petty crimes while sleeping at St Thomas' Hospital, in central London.

He claimed he found comfort in the Islamic faith and began sleeping at Camberwell Mosque.