Muslim 'in revenge plot to kill British soldier' Life Style Extra (UK) Wednesday, 7th December 2005, 16:34
Category: <http://www.lse.co.uk/NewsCategories.asp?Catid=7&Category_Name=crime_and_pun ishment> Crime and Punishment <http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=EC720424W&news_headline=muslim_in_ revenge_plot_to_kill_british_soldier> http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=EC720424W&news_headline=muslim_in_r evenge_plot_to_kill_british_soldier LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) - A Muslim terror suspect planned to kill a decorated British soldier in revenge for boasting about how many Iraqi rebels he had killed, a court heard today. British-born Abu Baker Mansha's plot against Corporal Mark Byles was discovered during a raid by the anti-terrorist squad and firearms police on his flat in March this year, it was said. David Cocks, QC, prosecuting, told Southwark Crown Court the 21 year-old's fingerprints were found all over a newspaper newspaper article dated 8 September last year on which he had circled the soldier's name, address and the number of Iraqi insurgents he had killed during the war. A dismantled fake gun which had tried to be converted to fire live bullets was also found at Mansha's south-east London home. Mr Cocks said: "In a bag belonging to him found behind the sofa, officers found a number of documents, the first of those was the Sun newspaper dated 8 September 2004 and the headline on the front read 'Lionheart Bayonet Charge Hero To Get Bravery Gong' and had subject matter about the corporal." The article told how Corporal Byles had been awarded the Military Cross for his bravery as part of the Tigers Battalion who "went to assist and ambush troops." Reading from the article Mr Cocks said: "Corporal Byles told of his hand-to-hand trench battle which left three Iraqi armed insurgents dead. "'He said in a rather graphic description 'it was either me or them'. He was recognised with a bravery award for taking out insurgents in desperate hand to hand combat. "He said 'I was rifle-butting them, punching and kicking. It was either them or me. It ended with three Iraqis dead and eight taken prisoner.' "He also shot and killed two more Iraqis firing from a second position. But he insisted he had no regrets. He said 'They were firing weapons at me and if it happened again I would kill them all.' "But Corporal Byles said nothing of the sort and it was a journalistic exaggeration." The piece then went on to describe how the infantry soldier of 13 years was awarded the Military Cross for showing "immense professionalism under fire" and strong leadership qualities during his seven month tour of duty. But Mansha had only circled sections telling of Iraqi deaths. Mr Cocks said: "One part read 'Corporal Byles, of Portsmouth, Hants, thinks he killed between 15 and 20 Iraqi insurgents during the war.' And someone circled this information. We say this is highly significant and someone has singled out the corporal's home town. "Then on a sheet of paper found in his bag the defendant had written something down and this is in Mansha's handwriting. "He had wriiten 'Hero Corporal Mark Byles, Portsmouth, Hants.' Then followed his door number 31, house name Perth House, street name Australia Close, town Portsmotuth and then his posdtcode. "It wasn't an up to date address as he had left it some time before these events. But someone had done some research based on the Sun newspaper entry and turned up the fact Corporal Byles was on the electroral register for Portsmouth." Other "virulent" anti-western propganda was also littered around the flat including an Islamic poem and a picture of Osama bin Laden. Part of the poem read: "All you enemenies who want to defeat Islam, well the fact we all know is Islam can never get defeated. No dirty pigs like Blair or Bush could move this one bit." Stills of British engineer Kenneth Bigley being beheaded along with other executions were shown to jurors as the video footage was deemed too harrowing. Mr Cocks said: "There's a 17 and a half minute Islamic propaganda film quoting from the koran and has a aspeech by Osama bin Laden on. "Other films contain Arabic chanting and singing, praising the holy war and jihad, glorifying martyrdom and calling on Islam to take part in a jihad particularly after the allied attack on Falujah. "There is also a clip of Mr Kenneth Bigley pleading for his life before being beheaded. That's the nature of the material in the flat. It's all exteremely disturbing and virulent material which indicates quite clearly the nature and interests of this defendant and other people who use that flat." A bug to evesdrop, a scanner to detect similar bugs, and homemade balaclava with eyes and mouth cut out were also found in the apartment. During four days of police interviews, Mansha refused to comment but prepared seven statements denying his guilt. Mr Cocks said: "The defendant denied having anything to do with terrorism. He said he had no political views. He said he was not a strict practising Muslim and had bought the dismantled pistol for £25 from a market stall as a souvenir." Clean shaven Mansha claimed he had lived at the flat for 12 to 18 months, renting if from a friend who was renting it from someone else. He said several of his friends had access to the flat but some of the DVDs were his. Mr Cocks said the only possible reason for the material found was for Mansha to "exact revenge" on the corporal. He said: "We say that looking at it in the context of what was in the flat. He had the piece of paper with Corporal Byles' information in his possession either to kill him or do him really serious injury. "To exact revenge no doubt with other people for what the corporal had achieved in Iraq and the part the corporal had played in killing Iraqi insurgents. "We say he was targeted for political purposes and there was other research to do as his address was out of date but that was the beginning. "We say he has the piece of paper with Corp Byles' details in his possession so he could hunt him down and at the very least use very serious violence against him so British soldiers in particular and the British public in general might be intimidated and the Islamic cause might be advanced." Mansha, of Thamesmead, south-east London, denies one count of possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. The case continues [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> AIDS in India: A "lurking bomb." 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