Liverpool doctor to face terror trial

Oct 6 2007

A LIVERPOOL NHS doctor is among three who will stand trial next year accused of plotting the car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow, a judge confirmed yesterday.

Sabeel Ahmed, 26, of Ramilies Road, Liverpool, was arrested in the Lime Street area hours after a burning car ploughed into Glasgow Airport in July.

He appeared alongside Jordanian Mohammed Jamil Asha, 27, and Iraqi Bilal Abdullah, 28, at the Old Bailey via videolink from high-security Belmarsh prison.

All three are charged with conspiring with others to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious injury.

They are accused of planning an attack in Haymarket, central London, on June 29 in which an unexploded car bomb packed with gas cylinders and nails was found outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub.

The following day, two men crashed a blazing Jeep Cherokee loaded with gas canisters and petrol into security barriers at Glasgow airport’s main terminal.

Former Halton Hospital doctor Ahmed is also accused of conspiring to cause explosions.

His brother, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who was believed to be the driver of the flaming Jeep which crashed into Glasgow Airport days after the London attack, suffered burns to 90% of his body and died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

The bearded trio sat side by side as Mr Justice Calvert- Smith ordered the three men should now enter pleas to charges on January 18.

A 12-week trial is now expected to take place in September next year at Woolwich Crown Court but a firm date is likely to be set at the January hearing.

Karen Jones, prosecuting, said the Crown wants all three men tried together.

The judge said: “Let’s plan for 12 weeks and hope over the days and months with issues being refined, it may come down rather than fix it for eight and of course it is subject to whether it’s a two-handed trial or three-handed trial. We should be aiming for trial subject to the availability of a High Court judge in September of next year.”

“At present it would almost certainly be tried at Woolwich Crown Court.”

Asha, of Newcastle-under- Lyme, Staffordshire, was arrested in a police swoop while travelling north on the M6 in Cheshire on June 30.

His wife, Marwa Asha, 27, who was seized at the same time, was released without charge.

Dr Abdullah, 27, of Halls of Residence, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, said to be a passenger in the Jeep, was the first person to be charged over the alleged plot.

The three defendants were remanded in custody until December 21.

ANOTHER former Merseyside doctor, Mohammed Haneef, was arrested in Australia in the wake of the terror attacks. Authorities there dropped the terrorism charges after deciding there was

little chance of a conviction over his connection with the plot.

His cousins are Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed.

Like Sabeel Ahmed, he too had worked at Halton Hospital, even though the hospital initially said they had not.