MAN GUILTY OF PLANNING TERROR ATTACK ON DEFENCE BASE WITH SYNAGOGUE KILLER

Mohammed Bashir, 31, pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts after conducting hostile reconnaissance at the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Swindon, with Jihad Al-Shamie, 35. Bashir drove Al-Shamie on a 10-hour round trip to the defence base on 14 August last year, after which both men deliberately disposed of their mobile phones. Less than two months later, Al-Shamie carried out a terrorist attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester on 2 October, during which he was shot dead by police whilst killing two worshippers.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay KC told Manchester Crown Court that analysis of WhatsApp messages and voice note exchanges between the pair, uncovered when police analysed phones seized from Al-Shamie during arrests in February and September 2025, demonstrated both were close associates sharing an extremist worldview. The court heard they regularly discussed violent jihad. Polnay stated the planned attack was designed to involve weapons that would cause multiple fatalities and have national and international impact. Bashir, of Shaftesbury Road, Cheetham Hill, holds both British and Pakistani nationality and has no previous convictions.

Bashir was arrested at Manchester Airport on 27 November but was not charged in relation to the synagogue attack itself. Two worshippers, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died when Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, drove a Kia Picanto into the synagogue gates and attacked with a knife whilst wearing what he represented as a suicide belt.