Norway teen did not plan to carry out 'hit' - court

A teenager accused of travelling from Norway to the UK to carry out a contract killing has told a court he was "petrified" and never intended to carry out the "hit".

Johannes Natland, 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield with two working guns and 19 rounds of live ammunition in March 2025.

He was allegedly recruited by the Foxtrot Network - described at the Old Bailey as a Swedish organised crime group backed by the Iranian regime - to shoot an unknown person in the UK.

Natland has pleaded guilty to possession of firearms and ammunition but denies a charge of conspiracy to murder.

Giving evidence in his defence on Monday, Natland told jurors he did not think the plan was real when he first received messages offering him €25,000 to travel from Stavanger in Norway to Manchester to shoot someone.

However, after plane tickets were booked for him and money was sent over for accommodation, he said he started to understand.

"When I received the money that's when I realised," he said.

"I wouldn't have got involved in the first place - I'm scared and thinking this is not going to work out.

"I wasn't trying to be a guy in the news."

The defendant said he went along with the instructions sent to him - including those leading him to a secluded location to pick up the two guns - out of fear and never intended to carry out an attack.

"This is the biggest criminal enterprise in Scandinavia," he said.

"I didn't want them to think I'm scamming them."

He told the court: "I thought, let me make it as inconspicuous as possible, not give them any clues that I wasn't actually on board."

When asked what he was planning to do instead, he replied: "My plan was to shoot myself in the foot."

Natland's defence barrister, Paul Hynes KC, asked his client if he meant his statement "literally or metaphorically", to which he replied: "Literally."

He added: "I knew I would never shoot anyone, I wouldn't be able to ever shoot someone."

The defendant said he had been using drugs "pretty much every day" by the end of 2024 and had spent time in a psychiatric unit in his home country.

"I got to a point where I was making wrong choices and became a bit of a recluse really," he told the court.

"Distancing myself from the life I used to live.

"When I came home I was still throwing my life away, still deteriorating."

Natland flew to Manchester on 17 March but was refused entry because he was travelling on an emergency passport with just £40 in cash, no hotel booking and no return flight.

He was still allowed to enter the UK on a temporary basis, the court previously heard, and was told to return to the airport for a flight back to Norway four days later.

During cross-examination by prosecutor Alistair Richardson, he was asked why he did not think to pull out of the plan.

"I didn't want them to think I've come this way now and now I'm pulling out," said Natland.

"I took the wrong decision at every turn, I should have never entertained it to begin with."

The trial continues.

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