Law Student Jailed Over Bomb-Making Manual

A law student cleared of plotting an attack in the UK's first secret terror trial has been jailed for having a bomb-making guide.

Erol Incedal was jailed for three-and-a-half years for possessing a memory card with what the judge said were viable instructions for making an explosive device.

Last week, the 27-year-old broke down in tears as he was found not guilty after a retrial of plotting with a terrorist in Syria to either target individuals such as former prime minister Tony Blair or carry out a "Mumbai-style" outrage using a Kalashnikov.

But, referring to the bomb-making manual, Mr Justice Nicol said: "The potential for such bombs to cause death, injury and destruction is obvious.

"The fear, panic and terror which explosions also bring are often a deliberate part of the terrorist's ambition."

Incedal was convicted last year of possessing the manual on a memory card at the time he was arrested in October 2013. His friend Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, also 27 and from London, admitted having an identical document.

Rarmoul-Bouhadjar was jailed for three years.

Mr Justice Nicol told the pair that even though they were not terrorists, Parliament had made possessing such documents an offence because of the danger of them being in circulation.

As Incedal had admitted in his trial to discussing a plan to buy and sell class A drugs and to acquire a gun with his friend, their mitigation of previous good character was "somewhat blunted", the judge said.

Both defendants have been in custody since their arrest 17 months ago, so they could be eligible for parole within months.

The case became a legal first after an attempt by the Crown to hold the entire trial in secret was scuppered by a media challenge at the High Court.

Today, Mr Justice Nicol refused a bid by the media to be allowed to report a "Part 2" section of the trial which was held behind closed doors but with 10 accredited journalists allowed to take notes.

While a small section of the trial was held in public, the lion's share of the evidence, including most of Incedal's defence, was completely in secret.

Outlining the case against the pair today, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told the court how the defendants travelled to the Turkey-Syria border in early 2013 in support of opposition to the Syrian regime.

The prosecution case was that they crossed the border into the war-torn country and Incedal accepted they stayed in a house or compound on the border where they mixed with other Islamists.

While it had been their intention to travel into Syria for humanitarian reasons, while at the house, they were shown how to strip and reassemble Kalashnikov rifles and how to make improvised explosive devices, Mr Whittam said.

During the trial, Incedal said they decided to go back to London because the conditions were "harsh" and Rarmoul-Bouhadjar wanted to return to the UK and to his job.