A man once suspected of being a member of the so-called Beatles Islamic State cell has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences.
Aine Davis, 39, originally from Hammersmith, west London, was arrested at Luton Airport last August after being deported from Turkey, where he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for membership of IS.
He previously denied charges against him but changed his pleas at a hearing at the Old Bailey today after a failed bid to get the case thrown out.
Davis admitted possession of a firearm contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and two charges relating to the funding of terrorism, between 2013 and 2014.
He appeared by videolink from Belmarsh prison wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit and was remanded in custody by the judge Mark Lucraft KC ahead of sentencing at the same court on 13 November.
Davis was arrested in Istanbul in November 2015 and has always denied being part of the Beatles cell – named because of the British accents of the group of men who tortured and beheaded western hostages in Syria.
Two members, British nationals El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, are now serving life sentences in US jails.
A third, Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed Jihadi John, who was believed to feature in shocking videos of IS beheadings of a number of captives, was killed in a drone strike in 2015.
US prosecutors said Davis travelled with Kotey and he admitted in a Turkish court that he knew Emwazi from a mosque in west London.
A US indictment included Davis as a “co-conspirator” but some of the hostages only mentioned three British members of the gang and prosecutors did not seek his extradition.
Ahead of his planned Old Bailey trial, Davis’ lawyers argued the case should be thrown out because he had already been tried and convicted for the same offending.
Mark Summers KC, defending, accused the British authorities of “conniving” with their Turkish counterparts in his deportation in a failed bid by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel to arrange his onward extradition to the US.
Prosecutors disputed the defence claims which were rejected by Judge Mark Lucraft and later by the Court of Appeal.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Post comments (0)