Convicted Hamas sympathiser told female UK shop worker ‘I’m going to cut your head off’ just two days after Israel attacks began

A convicted Hamas sympathiser told a female UK shop worker ‘I’m going to cut your head off’ just two days after the Israel attacks began, a court has heard.

Feras Al-Jayoosi followed the One Below staff member around the Swindon store, in Wiltshire, repeatedly shouting ‘don’t ignore me’. 

The terrified worker retreated to the staff-only storage room on October 9 fearing for her safety and begged the 36-year-old to ‘leave me alone’.

He then shouted: ”I’m going to take your head off, I’m going to cut your head off,’ prosecutor Keith Ballinger told Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. 

Al-Jayoosi has previously been convicted of terror offences after wearing T-shirts supporting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the large Jewish population of Golders Green, London. 

The Hamas sympathiser’s threat came just two days after the Israel attacks started (pictured: Flames and smoke billow during Israeli strikes in Gaza)

Al-Jayoosi was ushered out of the store room by another staff member who had rushed to help her colleague. 

At Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to a Section 4 Public Order Act offence.

In custody, he told officers that the shop worker had given him a dirty look and had been rude to him on a previous occasion.

Stephen Collins, defending, said his client ‘accepts a lot of upset was caused’ by his actions and confirmed that no bail application is being made due to Al-Jayoosi being recalled to prison.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court in December 2021 he was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

The latest case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report.

Al-Jayoosi was remanded in custody. He is due to appear at the same court for sentencing on 9 November.