A ‘secret supporter’ of ISIS talked about launching a gun attack on Jewish football supporters and the Queen before leaving for Syria, a court has heard.
Aweys Shikhey, a Dutch national originally from Somalia, was said to be ‘hiding in plain sight’ as he prepared to abandon his wife and children to join the terrorist group.
He allegedly discussed gunning down Jewish people leaving from ‘the game’ in North London and also discussed killing ‘the old woman Elizabeth’ – said to be a reference to the Queen.
But he dropped the plans in order to leave for Syria with a woman he had met online, abandoning a wife and children in the Netherlands and another in Kenya.
A ‘secret supporter’ of ISIS talked about launching a gun attack on Jewish football supporters and the Queen (pictured) before leaving for Syria, a court has heard
The Old Bailey heard that Shikhey had been living in Tottenham, North London for several years but had a wife and children in Kenya and a second wife and children in the Netherlands.
He spent his time either in North London, or staying with his father-in-law in the Netherlands.
Shikhey at first worked at the Tops internet cafe on the Tottenham High Road and then as a delivery driver for a firm called DPD.
The firm considered him ‘reliable and hardworking’ Barnaby Jamieson, prosecuting, said.
‘There was nothing in the mind of his father-in-law, his employer at DPD or others with whom he came into contact that suggested he was anything other than quiet, had-working and religiously observant.
He allegedly discussed gunning down Jewish people leaving from ‘the game’ in North London. The prosecution said reference appeared to have been made to Tottenham Hotspur fans
‘There was, however, an extremist agenda going on behind the scenes of which only a few were aware.
‘The face the defendant presented to the world was different to his real face, he was a terrorist hiding in plain sight.
‘The defendant was a secret supporter of Islamic State, so eager, he was willing to leave his life, job and relatives behind to join the Islamic State as a front-line combatant.’
Shikhey had a number of conversations with someone called Abdirahman Idris Hassan, a Somalian who was arrested in Kenya.
Hassan’s Hewlett Packard laptop revealed their chats on encrypted forums Telegram and Threema.
In one message, Hassan told Shikhey: ‘May god bestow you in killing David Cameron and the old woman Elizabeth.’
‘Amen brother,’ Shikhey replied.
In another message, Hassan asked Shikhey if he could get a gun.
Shikhey replied: ‘I don’t know but three or five people are needed who are connected to each other who can carry out a bloody attack, particularly like martyrdom seeker.’
Hassan said they needed an ‘expert for this kind of thing’ and both men agreed it looked ‘a bit heavy.’
Shikhey said it would be ‘better if AK47, M16 and BKM can be found’ referring to various types of assault rifle.
‘They could have been taken to Stamford Hill and when people leave from the game.
‘On Saturday a lot of Jews gather over there. It is an area of the UK where they are a majority, it’s full of people.’
He was turned down for a number of loans for home improvements with the AA, Amigo, and Everyday Lending but was then given £10,000 by Barclays Bank, which he claimed was for a wedding.
Mr Jamieson said the loan was part of an ‘orchestrated plan to obtain as much money as possible from unknowing lenders and leaving the country forever for a purpose that had nothing to do with home improvements.’
Shikhey then sent £12,000 (£8,700) to a Somalian woman in Norway called Raaqiya Hussain.
In one message, Hassan told Shikhey: ‘May god bestow you in killing David Cameron and the old woman Elizabeth.’ Pictured, David Cameron
Calling herself ‘Umm Seyfullah’, Hussain, a mother of one, described herself as a mujahida [female fighter] and had created an ISIS identity card with her name on it.
She had downloaded a six-minute video showing how to make an explosive known as RDX and a document headed ‘Lesson 11’ about timers, fuses and detonators.
In a message to Hussain, Shikhey wrote about his families in Kenya and the Netherlands, adding: ‘Thank god I am leaving them an they have not been told.
‘I am leaving them behind and entirely up to them who is happy or unhappy with my actions.’
Shikhey said his son was a member of a Somali academy called Ashbaal and added: ‘God willing, I will move him from there, right now he is with them and studying at their academy.
‘This is my situation and now I decide to join the troops of god and our Caliph is the leader, may god protect him.’
On May 21, Shikhey booked a flight for three days later from London Stansted to Sarajevo, via Istanbul.
He was carrying $700 and 400 Euros in cash, a number of mobile phones and a print-out from Google maps showing the Stari Grad Hotel in Sarajevo.
At the hotel, he took a selfie ‘no doubt to blend in with the travelling public,’ Mr Jamieson said.
Shikhey, who has a Dutch passport, denies preparing terrorist acts on or before May 23 last year. The trial continues.
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