'ISIS Beatle' finally faces justice in Britain after admitting terror charges
A Brit linked to the notorious 'Beatles' ISIS group has finally been brought to justice in the UK after admitting to terror charges at the Old Bailey.
Terrorist Aine Davis – who has already served jail time in Turkey for being a member of the Islamic State group and was arrested on arrival back in the UK last August – appeared in court via video link from Belmarsh Prison.
At one point, Davis, 39, originally from Hammersmith, west London and who will be sentenced on November 13, was suspected of being a member of the gang who were called the Beatles, named because of the British accents of the group of men who tortured and beheaded western hostages in Syria. Davis was arrested in Istanbul in November 2015 and has always denied being part of the Beatles cell.
He was deported from Turkey, where he had been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for membership of IS. However, there has been no attempt to put Davis on trial for being a member of the kidnap gang either in the UK or the US, even though at one point the then Home Secretary Priti Patel asked the US to extradite and prosecute him.
Aine Davis pictured with one of his terrorist compatriots (PA)The gang became infamous for videoing the beheading of their British, American and European hostages. Davis became a trans-Atlantic tug-of-war as lawyers argued over the difficult legal issues around how and where he should face justice.
Abandoned prison which caged dangerous cartel killers found by urban explorer
In 2006, Davis, who has roots in Gambia, met his wife Amal El-Wahabi at a London mosque and became increasingly interested in Islam. The next year he spent time living in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to El-Wahabi, he had a history of drug dealing and went abroad to get away from bad influences.
The Muslim convert left the UK in July 2013 to join jihadis in Syria and in November of that year, sent his wife a picture of himself in Syrian woods posing with a man holding a Kalashnikov rifle. A day later he sent her a group photograph with 13 other people holding guns aloft. But justice was beginning to catch up with him, because in January 2014, El-Wahabi's friend Nawal Msaad was stopped at Heathrow airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul and was found to be carrying £15,830 (20,000 euro) in rolled-up notes.
In the summer of 2014, his wife went on trial at the Old Bailey, accused of attempting to send Davis the money to fund terrorism and was subsequently found guilty with Msaad, who was "hoodwinked" by her friend to act as a courier, acquitted. Mother-of-two El-Wahabi was jailed for 28 months and seven days in the November with Judge Nicholas Hilliard saying it was clear Davis went to Syria to fight under the black flag of Isis and El-Wahabi was "infatuated" with him.
Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, the ringleader of the murderous Beatles IS cell, was killed in a US drone strike in 2015 and on November 12 of that year, Davis – who was using a forged travel document – and others, were arrested in Istanbul by the Turkish authorities on suspicion of being members of the so-called Islamic State.
Davis was convicted of membership of a proscribed organisation with firearms on May 9, 2017 and jailed. In 2018, two IS Beatles cell members, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were captured and later handed eight life sentences in the United States. As the suspected fourth cell member Davis received a prison visit from British intelligence officers who asked him about The Beatles. Afterwards, Davis claims he was mistreated in prison. Turkish authorities then rejected an extradition request but look at deporting him in July 2021.
In 2022 the US say they have no interest in Davis, but Priti Patel allegedly appealed – unsuccessfully – to US authorities for Davis to be prosecuted there. He is transferred to an immigration detention centre in Turkey and visited by a consular official who attempts to persuade him to return to Britain voluntarily – without success.
In August last year, Davis was deported to Britain and held by counter-terrorism police on his arrival at Luton airport. He is arraigned to stand trial at the Old Bailey accused of arranging terrorist funding from abroad and having a gun with terrorist intent.
His lawyer Mark Summers KC argued he has effectively been convicted and served his time in Turkey for his activities in Syria, but Davis eventually pleaded guilty to having a firearm for terrorist purposes and two terrorism funding charges after unsuccessfully applying to the Court of Appeal.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
