Man ‘planned UK attacks on Pakistani dissidents’

An alleged “hitman for hire” has appeared in court accused of planning violent attacks on two Pakistani dissidents at their UK homes.

Louis Regan, from Birmingham, is charged with plotting simultaneous assaults on human rights lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar and journalist Adil Raja, at 08:00 GMT on Christmas Eve last year.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard Regan, 25, is accused of leading a “planned and sophisticated” plot for both men to be attacked on their doorsteps.

The court heard he allegedly disguised himself in a workman’s uniform and mask to attack Akbar – a former Pakistani government adviser – at his Cambridgeshire home, while a group who went to Raja’s home found he was not in.

Read more: BBC News