Ignore Hate, Plot Jury Told By QC

Jurors in the fertiliser terror plot trial at the Old Bailey were told yesterday that the evidence “did not stand up” against one of the accused.

Michel Massih QC urged the jurors to clear Waheed Mahood, the only one of the seven accused who did not give evidence.

He said the prosecution had failed to show that Mahmood knew of the plot and the purchase of ammonium nitrate fertiliser to bomb places in the UK.

Jurors were left with bugged material which had Mahmood sounding off his “anger and frustration” at a time of turmoil in Iraq, he said.

Mr Massih told the jury it should ignore Mahmood’s “hate and disgust of the society in which he lives”.

“You are going to rise above this,” said Mr Massih.

The defendants were arrested following the discovery of more than half a ton of chemical fertiliser in a storage depot in west London in 2004.

The prosecution alleged that the group planned, in Pakistan and Britain, to mount explosions in the UK against power supplies, nightclubs and the Blue-water shopping centre.

The hearing continues.

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