A Muslim convert has admitted plotting to kill around 100 people in a terror attack outside the Disney Store on Oxford Street.
Lewis Ludlow, 26, swore allegiance to Islamic State as he prepared to drive a van through London’s shopping district or Madame Tussauds.
Between March 15 and April 19, he bought a phone under a false name and wrote down his attack plans – which were later found ripped up in a bin.
He also researched potential targets around the capital, van rental and hotel accommodation.
He identified Oxford Street as an “ideal” target, writing: “It is expected nearly 100 could be killed in the attack”.
Ludlow, from Rochester, in Kent, formulated his plan after being stopped by police at Heathrow airport in February as he attempted to board a flight to the Philippines.
It was alleged he also set up a Facebook account called Antique Collections as a front to send money to south east Asia for terrorism.
The defendant was due to face trial in the autumn on two charges of preparing acts of terrorism and one of terror funding.
But at a hearing before Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC at the Old Bailey, he pleaded guilty to plotting an attack in the UK and funding IS abroad.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said it would not be in the public interest to pursue a trial on a charge of attempting to join IS in the Philippines which the defendant denied. That charge will lie on the court file.