Jailed, binman who said murder of lee Rigby was ‘justified’
RADICALISED THUG ‘WANTED TO KILL A SOLDIER’
A BINMAN who said the murder of soldier Lee Rigby was ‘justified’ has been jailed for hoarding jihadi manuals and encouraging terror.
Aabid Ali’s ‘search for brotherhood’ led him from BNP membership and biker gangs to a ‘fixation’ with radical Islam, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The convicted robber, from Manchester, had spoken to relatives about wanting to ‘kill a soldier with a car’ and told officials of his support for Islamic State before being arrested and charged with terrorism offences.
Declaring himself a ‘Soldier of Allah,’ he watched videos of ‘beheadings, explosions and stonings’ daily and posed for a selfie with the black flag of Isis.
The court heard he would critique the techniques of suicide bombers and executioners while watching the sick footage – and talked about attacking nightclubs, RAF bases and army barracks. Raids and searches of his mobile phone and laptop revealed he had downloaded Isis and AlQaeda bombmaking manuals which advised on how to cause ‘maximum carnage’ – as well as a map of the Palace of Westminster. He kept £570 in a backpack – apparently to fund a trip to a war zone.
Now Ali, 49, whose birth name is Darren Glennon, has been jailed for five years and four months by a judge who told him he was ‘deeply radicalised,’ and showed ‘no remorse and no regret.’ Ali admitted charges of possessing two terror manuals said to contain ‘easy to follow illustrations’ on making a viable bomb and a ‘question and answer’ session with an Al-Qaeda ‘chef.’ He also admitted a charge of encouraging terrorism by posting in the comments section of a YouTube video the remark: “Jihad, it’s the only way forward. Kuffar (unbelievers) can’t handle it – it’s a win.” Ali had converted behind bars and was living in Wrexham at the time of his arrest. Officials from counterterrorism drive Prevent first visited the refuse collector at home in October after being tipped off about his fixation with jihad. He ignored their warnings and continued to access disturbing extremist material. Once when police visited him at home, he was watching a video of a fighter in action. “Don’t mind the film – I like bombs”, he told them. The items that formed the subject of the charge were found on Judge David Stockdale QC his phone and laptop in subsequent raids. The police investigation revealed that over the last two years he had researched security arrangements at 10 Downing Street, bombing the London Underground, travel advice to jihadi hotspots, molotov cocktails and the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
YouTube comments he posted included the remarks: ‘(Salman Rushdie) should be dead, why is he still alive?,’ ‘I’m white who is prepared for jihad, fight shaitan (Satan) and kuffar dogs,’ and ‘the kuffar will pay.’
Examined by a nurse in police custody, he was asked if he harboured sucidial thoughts. “Only as a martyr to jihad,” he replied.
Prosecutors in court claimed he was ‘intending to step over the threshold into a more serious offence,’ but his defence said he is an ‘unstable’ man with personal problems, and was ‘more influenced than influencer.’ His barrister admitted that despite his conviction for terror offences, he still held ‘what we see as radicalised beliefs.’
In his police interview, Ali said Drummer Rigby, the soldier from Middleton who was murdered near his barracks by extremists, had been ‘a soldier serving his time slaughtering Muslims.’ He added that he hoped to visit the prime minister, who he described as ‘a war criminal,’ adding that his ‘real view’ of Mr Rigby’s killing was that it was ‘justified.’
Sentencing, Judge David Stockdale QC told Ali, who appeared on videolink from HMP Chelmsford in Essex: “You have shown no remorse, you have shown no regret, you have offered no apology. You show no sense whatsoever of retreating from your journey into radicalism.”