A close associate of the man who carried out a deadly assault on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur has confessed to transporting him to the UK’s Defense Academy for a terrorist reconnaissance mission, the BBC reported Friday.
Appearing at the Old Bailey, 31-year-old Mohammad Bashir entered a guilty plea to a single charge of preparing to commit a terrorist act alongside Jihad Al-Shamie.
Court proceedings revealed that Bashir drove Al-Shamie to the secure military facility located in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, on August 14 of last year.
Months later, on October 2, Al-Shamie launched an attack on worshippers gathered at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, which culminated in the deaths of two men.
Bashir is scheduled to face sentencing at Manchester Crown Court across July 20 and 21. Prosecutors agreed that three additional charges involving the distribution of terrorist media via WhatsApp will be allowed to lie on file.
The Manchester synagogue attack occurred when the 35-year-old Al-Shamie, a resident of Prestwich, rammed his Kia Picanto into the synagogue gates during Yom Kippur services and began targeting individuals with a knife. Al-Shamie, who was equipped with a counterfeit suicide vest, was fatally shot by responding police officers at the scene.
Investigators unraveled the timeline after discovering that Bashir had previously orchestrated a lengthy round-trip from Manchester to Oxfordshire to scout out the Academy – an institution responsible for training personnel from the British military, the Civil Service, and various international students. The pair spent a mere 13 minutes at the facility before embarking on the remainder of their 10-hour return journey home on the very same day.
Following the fatal events at the synagogue, Bashir fled to Pakistan. However, law enforcement officials apprehended him at Manchester Airport immediately upon his return to the country.
Bashir remains remanded in custody until his formal sentencing hearing this summer.
(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
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