Man denies driving Manchester synagogue attacker to scout out Oxfordshire Defence Academy
Prosecutors allege he drove Jihad Al-Shamie there “with the intention of assisting him to commit acts of terrorism”
Last updated 7 hours ago
An alleged associate of the Manchester synagogue attacker has denied driving him to the UK’s Defence Academy in Oxfordshire to carry out hostile reconnaissance.
Mohammad Bashir, 31, pleaded not guilty on Friday to preparation of terrorist acts and three counts of disseminating terrorist publications on WhatsApp on dates in November and December 2024.
The first charges alleges he drove Jihad Al-Shamie to the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, last August 14 to carry out hostile reconnaissance of the location, weeks before the synagogue attack.
He did so “with the intention of assisting Jihad Al-Shamie to commit acts of terrorism”, the charge states.
The assistance allegedly provided by Bashir was not in relation to the attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Crumpsall last October 2.
Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed after 35-year-old Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, drove his Kia Picanto into the gates of the synagogue and began attacking with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt.
He was shot dead by armed police as he carried out the attack.
Bashir was arrested at Manchester Airport on November 27.
He faces a four-week trial from July 6 at Manchester Crown Court before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.
The defendant, of Shaftsbury Road, Manchester, was remanded into custody ahead of a pre-trial review at the Old Bailey on June 5.
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