Britain's youngest convicted terrorist, who at the age of 14 plotted to behead police officers, has launched a legal bid to keep his identity secret by asking the courts for anonymity for life.
The legal bid is unprecedented for a terrorism case and, if granted, will see the teenager from Blackburn, Lancashire, join some of the country's most notorious offenders who have been allowed to hide their crimes, according to a 'Sunday Times' report.
To date, only six lifelong anonymity orders have been awarded to convicts by the courts.
If the teenager who can be identified only by the initials RXG wins his fight, it will be only the second time that an offender's identity has remained secret throughout criminal proceedings and beyond.
He will pit his privacy under human rights law and wish for a "second chance" in life against the public's right to know about his past.
If his lawyers suspect that others are already aware of his terrorism conviction they may also ask for the teenager to be given a new identity on his release from prison.
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RXG was jailed for life in October 2015 for inciting terrorism. He must serve a minimum of five years and will be eligible for release in 2020 if he can prove he no longer poses a threat to the public.
At his sentencing, Manchester Crown Court was told that the boy had used social media and encrypted messages from his bedroom to convince an 18-year-old Australian to behead police officers guarding an Anzac Day parade in Melbourne.
It later emerged that the Blackburn teenager had also threatened to behead some of his own teachers.
When RXG was sentenced in 2015, judge Justice Saunders granted him anonymity until he turned 18 when a child criminal's name can normally be reported.
His lawyers have already been granted an interim order from the High Court. Their application for lifelong anonymity is expected to be heard in October.