Terrorist got B&Q job after switching his names around
A MUSLIM terrorist convicted of hoarding bomb-making manuals walked out of prison and into a job at B&Q.
Afsor Ali, 31, was able to take up a role at the DIY chain after simply reversing his surname and forename, a court heard.
He spent more than a year at a busy branch near his East London home and was due a promotion to supervisor.
But the former public transport worker’s extremist background was revealed after he lost his temper and attacked a customer.
Ali, of Bethnal Green, grabbed Harry Flanagan, 25, around the neck after they rowed over the size of a carrier bag at the tills.
Despite his past, Ali was handed a six month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to assault and ordered to pay £200 in fines and costs.
Last night Michelle Flanagan, 45, the mother of his victim, said: ‘How did he get the job in the first place given he would have been surrounded by bomb-making equipment?
‘They said it was because he gave his name the other way around but both ways his previous convictions come up on Google.
‘We know they can’t take all the previous convictions into account but we feel he has gotten away with it.’
Ali’s terrorist sympathies were first exposed after he was arrested at a protest outside the US Embassy in 2011 by hate preacher Anjem Choudary’s banned group Muslims Against Crusades.
Police found a guide to making bombs and firing an AK-47 on his MP3 music player. They also discovered that he was promoting fellow terrorists in YouTube propaganda videos, labelling the 9/11 attacks an ‘historic event’ under the alias Asad Ullah.
At court, he also admitted possessing a stolen passport after he tried to flee to France and that he had three convictions for assaulting police officers.
Despite his offences, Ali was jailed for just 31 months at the Old Bailey in 2014 and released around a year later.
Two years later, he was hired at a B&Q in Leyton Mills retail park, Essex, after simply changing his name and failing to disclose his past.
It was here that an animated row broke out between him and Mr Flanagan, from North-East London. The customer had asked for a bigger carrier bag, to which Ali replied ‘get your own bag’. As Mr Flanagan asked for a manager, Ali pushed him against a plastic barrier and grabbed him around the neck.
On Wednesday at Stratford Magistrates’ Court, Ali’s lawyer Costa Cantaris said the attack was not premeditated and his client is now unemployed. ‘He was due for a promotion that day so it was unfortunate he has now lost his job as he was well-liked by staff and never had a complaint from a customer,’ he said.
B&Q said: ‘An employee named Ali Afsor was dismissed from employment at B&Q Leyton for gross misconduct in February. All usual employment checks were carried out using the name the applicant provided and he twice declared that he had no previous convictions.’
‘He has gotten away with it’