On the day of the attempted attack, he walked to the west London embassy from north London wearing a red and white traditional Arabic scarf wrapped around his head and sunglasses.

The embassy is located on a street which is home to several large diplomatic buildings and has a round-the-clock police presence.

At around 18:00, he saluted in the direction of two nearby diplomatic protection officers before trying to scale a security fence.

The armed officers dragged him down from the railings and detained him.

When he was searched, police found two 10cm (4ins)-long blades and a handwritten copy of a verse titled "the benefit of martyrdom".

His trial heard how he told police: "I want to make a crime inside there. Why are you stopping me? Why are you stopping me from making crimes?"

During a later interview at a police station, he said he had wanted "to do something to stop the war".

The Old Bailey also heard evidence he may have acted in a way to force the nearby armed officers to kill him.

Prosecutor Catherine Pattison said Albadri "intended to do something that would have resulted in the sacrifice of his life".