Terrorist linked to ‘ISIS Beatles’ and who knew Jihadi John jailed for eight years
A British man who spent two years with Islamic State in Syria has been jailed for eight years.
Aine Davis, 39, is thought to have befriended the British ‘IS Beatle’ dubbed Jihadi John, pleaded guilty to three terrorism charges at the Old Bailey,
He had been deported from Turkey after spending seven-and-a-half years in jail there for being a member of IS.
The charges, which date back to 2013 and 2014, include a failed attempt to get his then-wife, Amal El-Wahabi, to send him €20,000 (£17,460) while he was in Syria.
Davis was also found to have been in possession of a firearm connected to terrorist activity.
Images found on Ms El-Wahabi’s phone included a photo sent by Davis showing him and 13 men in military-style clothing holding up guns.
After sending her another photo of himself with a man in Syria holding up a rifle, he texted her: ‘Don’t show this to anyone but yuyu [sic]. I mean it.’
For many years Davis was suspected of being Jihadi Paul, one of four IS kidnappers who were dubbed the ‘Beatles’ by their captives due to having British accents.
Some reports suggest British intelligence services no longer believe Davis was part of the group.
His barrister claimed the US was not seeking to prosecute the 39-year-old ‘because the evidence was there were only three members and not four members of that cell’.
Referring to the allegations, which were not mentioned in the charges against him, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told Davis: ‘I make it clear I am sentencing you for the offences on the indictment and for nothing else.’
He added: ‘From the messages and images you sent to your wife it is clear you have been with fighters in Syria and that you were not there for lawful purposes.
Davis, who was born in Hammersmith, west London, racked up a string of drug convictions in his youth and was jailed in 2004 for possessing a firearm.
He converted to Islam, sometimes calling himself Hamza, and later spent time in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen and Egypt between 2007 and 2011.
He attended the same west London mosque as Mohammed Emwazi, who became the ‘IS Beatles’ executioner known as Jihadi John.
Davis, who has always denied being one of the ‘Beatles’, admitted to being acquainted with Emwazi but denied seeing him in Syria after travelling to the war-torn country in 2013.
El-Wahabi became the first person to be found guilty of funding terrorism in Syria when she was convicted in 2014, and was jailed for 28 months.
Davis used a fake passport to cross back into Turkey in 2015 and was arrested by Turkish police in a luxury villa on the coast near Istanbul rented by an undercover FBI spy.
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