In cuffs , British radical caught on way to Syria
HATE preacher Trevor Brooks appeared before a Hungarian judge amid extraordinary security yesterday, accused of fleeing the UK before travelling 1,000 miles across five borders.
Armed officers escorted the handcuffed radical into court after he was captured while allegedly trying to travel to Syria.
The show of force came amid fears Islamist militants could try to attack or disrupt the proceedings in Budapest.
Brooks, 40, of East London, faces extradition within days on a European arrest warrant, accused of breaching the terms of an order banning him from leaving Britain. He was arrested with fellow Islamist Simon Keeler, 44, on a train travelling to Bucharest when it stopped at Hungary’s eastern border last Saturday. Despite the fact neither man held a passport, they had been able to travel more than 1,000 miles across Europe, going through at least five borders.
When they were challenged by police, Keeler produced his driving licence and Brooks pulled out a copy of the Koran. Both men are banned from leaving the country for more than three days without informing the authorities after being convicted of terrorist fundraising.
During a short hearing at Budapest City Court, Brooks complained about prison food and requested mineral water because the tap water was making him ill.
He told the judge he liked Hungary but would prefer to be sent back to Britain. He is expected to be deported within ten days. In a separate hearing, Keeler, also of East London, said security measures imposed by police against him were ‘very much over the top’.
Saying he wanted to join his wife and six children in Turkey, he wept as he added: ‘I don’t want to go back to Britain.’
The case is embarrassing for the Home Office, which has to explain how Brooks was able to leave the country despite being one of its best known radical clerics.
Earlier this year the Old Bailey heard Keeler tried to smuggle himself out of the country in the back of a lorry.
He claimed he was trying to join his family to escape the scrutiny of social services who suspected he was radicalising his children, aged between four and 17. He admitted he would live in an Islamic state and would consider moving to Syria ‘once it had calmed down’.
Former electrician Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen, is best known for heckling then Home Secretary John Reid live on TV in 2006.
Keeler and Brooks were convicted of inciting terrorism overseas in 2008 after calling on their followers to murder British troops and civilians.
They were jailed and made subject to a ‘notification order’, meaning they must tell police if they plan to travel abroad for more than three days.