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Secret Terror Trial: Law Student Not Guilty

Secret Terror Trial: Law Student Not Guilty

A law student has been found not guilty of a terrorist plot, which the Crown had claimed may have included plans to murder former prime minister Tony Blair.

Erol Incedal, 27, broke down in tears as he was cleared of preparing acts of terrorism after a retrial at the Old Bailey, which has been highly controversial as it was held mostly in secret.

However, he was found guilty of possessing bomb making instructions at his first trial in November last year and will be sentenced alongside co-defendant Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, who had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing bomb making instructions.

During the course of the second old Bailey trial, the Crown claimed Incedal, a British citizen of Turkish descent, had not settled on any firm attack plan, but had been considering a range of potential options, including a Mumbai style attack in the UK.

The Mumbai terrorist atrocity, six years ago, left 174 dead and hundreds of others injured after a group of militants attacked the Indian city's rail station, hotels and other buildings with guns and explosives.

UK authorities had originally attempted to hear the whole trial in secret.

They never explained why there was a need for such secrecy but the attempt to ban reporting of the trial brought media organisations and civil liberties groups to the Court of Appeal.

Lawyers for the media argued that an entirely secret trial would set a dangerous precedent and flew in the face of the fundamental principle of open justice.

Three Appeal Court judges agreed, at least in part, allowing some limited reporting of the trial.

However, more than two-thirds of the case has still been held entirely in secret, with the press and public barred from court.

A small group of journalists have been allowed to listen to a limited amount of the secret evidence, but they might never be able to reveal what they have heard.

Lawyers representing all sides in this case will now meet to decide if any further evidence can be released to the public.

Although still largely shrouded in secrecy, there was a tantalising, all be it limited glimpse into the Crown's case against Incedal.

On 30 September 2013, Incedal's car was pulled over by police in west London.

The defendant thought it related to a traffic violation. But, as he was held in custody for a few hours at a nearby police station, the authorities planted a listening device in his car and searched it.

Inside a Versace glasses case, they found a folded up piece of paper containing the address of one of the properties owned by Mr Blair and his wife Cherie.

Over the next fortnight, as he drove around London, police listened to Incedal discussing his hatred of the police and white people and arranging to purchase a gun and ammunition.

By 13 October last year, armed police moved in, shooting out his car tyres in an east London street before arresting Incedal and his co-accused Rarmoul-Bouhadjar.

In his defence, Incedal claimed he had wanted to buy a gun to commit an armed robbery and that he had a "reasonable excuse" for possessing bomb making instructions.

The Crown failed to convince the jury that Incedal had more sinister intent, finding him not guilty of preparing acts of terrorism.

The press and public never got to hear his explanation in full, as that evidence was heard in secret, like the vast majority of this trial, which was frustratingly devoid of detail.