A teacher has been convicted of trying to recruit an "army of children" to stage a series of Islamic State-inspired terror attacks across London.

Umar Haque, 25, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday after five days of jury deliberations.

The court heard during the month-long trial Haque attempted to convert children as young as 11 to his extremist cause while working as a teacher at Lantern of Knowledge School in Leyton and at Ripple Road Mosque in Barking.

Accomplices Abuthaher Mamun and Muhammad Abid, who Haque recruited after meeting at the mosque, were convicted of their roles in helping him.

After he was found guilty, Haque shouted: "I want to say something", but was dragged out of the dock by officers as he continued to rant.

Haque, of Forest Gate, pleaded guilty to four charges of collecting information useful for terrorism.

He also admitted one count of disseminating a terrorist document, which took place while he was teaching at Ripple Road Mosque

He denied two charges of preparing for acts of terrorism, but was found guilty of both counts.

Jurors failed to reach a verdict on a further count of disseminating a terrorist document at Lantern of Knowledge, while he was acquitted of conspiring to possess firearms.

Nadeem Patel, 26, the fourth defendant in the case, was also found not guilty of possessing a handgun, a charge he had denied.

During the course of the trial, the Old Bailey heard Haque aimed to recruit an army of 300 jihadis after becoming obsessed with the Westminster Bridge attack.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

A court sketch of defendants (l to r) Muhammad Abid, Umar Haque, Abuthaher Mamun and Nadeem Patel

A former pupil told the court Haque had been "teaching terrorism" in class, instructing boys on how to fight and drilling them with press-ups to strengthen their bodies in preparation for an attack.

The court heard Haque also showed children as young as 11 IS propaganda videos featuring beheadings. 

The teacher claimed he had done this on the request of his students and said he played the footage to give them a "more holistic idea of what Islamic State are".

It is estimated Haque was given access to more than 250 children at Lantern of Knowledge, another unnamed east London school and Ripple Road Mosque over the course of five years, despite having no formal teaching qualifications.

In bugged conversations with his conspirators, he talked about being inspired by the Westminster Bridge atrocity in March last year.

Haque said: "We are here to cause terror, my brother.

"We are a death squad sent by Allah and his messengers to avenge my Arab brothers' blood."

Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told jurors the targets for Haque's "warped" ideology were civilian as well as police.

His handwritten hit-list included the Queen's Guard, Transport for London, Shia Muslims, Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, Heathrow, Big Ben, and media organisations.

In the months before his arrest, he bragged about recruiting 16 children, telling Ripple Road youngsters he intended to die a martyr and IS was "good".

Haque made them act out the roles of police and attackers in scenarios with weapons and a car bomb.

Trial judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, told the court Haque would sentenced at a later date.