A man from Barking has been sentenced to seven years in prison for travelling to Syria to join Islamic State fighters.

Mohammed Uddin, 29, of Wilmington Gardens, Barking, was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the charge of preparing acts of terrorism.

Uddin travelled to Syria on November 4, 2014, with the intention of joining Islamic State and engaging in combat.

He was detained by officials in Turkey after crossing the border from Syria on December 12 and being found without travel documents. When he arrived back in the UK on December 22 he was stopped by counter terrorism officers.

Sussex police said security checks had led officers to believe Uddin was involved in terrorist-related activity.

He was found to possess extremist material upon further investigation.

Asst Ch Con Laura Nicholson, who leads on counter-terrorism across the south east, said: “Uddin’s purpose of travel was to join Daesh and engage in terrorist activity but thanks to the proactive work of Gatwick Airport port officers, we were able to intercept Uddin at the airport and ensure that his reasons for travel were fully investigated.”

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said it had been “very clear” that Uddin had “meticulously planned his trip” in order to arrive in Syria undetected.

She added: “Online searches had been carried out relating to ‘Islamic state fighting’, which strongly implied a more sinister purpose to his trip –rather than a holiday as he had previously claimed.”