Aine Davis, who was suspected of being a member of a dying squad dubbed “the Beatles” from the so-called Islamic State, has been jailed on the Old Bailey for eight years for terrorist offences.
Last month Davis admitted possession of a firearm and two costs of funding terrorism.
The costs courting again to 2013 and 2014 associated to photographs with Davis’ then-wife whereas he was in Syria and a failed bid to ship him €20,000 (£17,400) through an unwitting courier.
He was arrested at Luton Airport final yr after being deported from Turkey after serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for membership of IS.
Davis has all the time denied being linked with the Beatles cell – so-called due to their British accents – which tortured and beheaded Western hostages in Syria.
Two Beatles members, British nationals El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, are serving life in US jails.
The third Beatle, Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed Jihadi John, was killed in a drone strike in 2015.
His authorized staff had claimed US authorities had accepted there was no fourth Beatle whereas the Court of Appeal famous any plan to extradite him there was “short-lived and discounted”.
Davis witnessed ‘atrocities’ and achieved nothing important, his barrister says
Making no reference to the Beatles, Mark Summers KC issued an apology to the Syrian folks on Davis’s behalf saying the defendant and people like him “did more harm than good”.
Mr Summers mentioned: “The reality he found when he arrived in Syria was profoundly different to anything he had ever imagined. What he thought he could achieve personally in a war zone transpired to be wholly and completely naive.
“Very little concerned serving to folks of Syria. It concerned more often than not in-fighting and schisms.”
Having “misunderstood” his religious obligations to travel to Syria, Davis left in January 2014 having witnessed “atrocities” and achieved nothing significant, he said.
Mr Summers said: “He has numerous apologies to make via me right now – the primary is to the Syrian folks. The presence of him, these like him and the teams he related to there, induced extra hurt than good.”
‘You weren’t there for lawful functions’
Judge Mark Lucraft KC jailed Davis for six years for the firearms offence and two years for terrorism funding to run consecutively.
The choose advised him: “From the messages and images you sent to your wife it is clear you have been with fighters in Syria and that you were not there for lawful purposes. There are images of you in possession of firearms in November 2013.”
Referring to the extensively reported allegations for which Davis was not charged, the choose added: “I make it clear I am sentencing you for the offences on the indictment and for nothing else.”
Judge Lucraft discovered Davis was not a harmful offender, having taken under consideration the “passage of time” since he was in Syria.
However, Davis was advised he should serve his total custodial sentence and can be on licence for an additional two years upon his launch.
Davis posed with weapons
Davis left his residence in London in 2013 and set off to affix the battle in Syria, having beforehand transformed to Islam and frolicked within the Middle East.
The proof was largely uncovered from communications along with his then-wife, mother-of-two Amal El-Wahabi, 36, who stayed behind in north London and who he enlisted in a plan to ship him money by hoodwinking her pal Nawal Masaad, 36, to behave as courier on the promise of €1,000 (£870).
Ms Masaad was stopped at Heathrow Airport on 16 January 2014 as she was about to board a flight to Istanbul with €20,000 (£17,400) stuffed inside her tights, with the prosecution alleging the cash, which was raised within the UK, was destined to help Davis’s terrorist trigger in Syria.
Following El-Wahabi’s arrest uncovered a stash of terrorist propaganda mentioned to have been left behind by Davis when he went to Syria.
On her cell phone was an image despatched by Davis in November 2013 exhibiting him with a person holding a Kalashnikov rifle in a Syrian wooden.
Davis advised his spouse: “Don’t show this to anyone but yuyu. [sic]. I mean it.”
He despatched one other image posing with 13 others in military-style garments and holding up weapons.
The court docket heard it was clear Davis had gone to Syria to battle below the black flag of Islamic State and he was preoccupied with martyrdom.
After the Old Bailey trial in 2014 El-Wahabi turned the primary particular person to be discovered responsible of funding terrorism in Syria and was jailed for 28 months, whereas Ms Masaad was cleared of wrongdoing.
Source: information.sky.com”
