A teenage hitman from Norway has been locked up for 20 years for plotting a murder on British soil for an Iran-backed international crime gang for a “thrill”.

Talented footballer Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, agreed to shoot an unknown target for 25,000 euros (£21,500) in March last year.

Two days after he arrived in the UK on a flight from his home in Stavanger, armed police arrested him at a hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and seized two guns and 12 live bullets.

Natland admitted possessing the firearms and ammunition but claimed he would have shot himself in the foot to get out of the “pickle” he was in.

He was found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 20 years detention on Friday.

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