A west London man once suspected of being part of the ISIS ‘Beatles’ death squad has pleaded guilty to funding terrorism and possession of a firearm.
Aine Davis, 39, a Muslim convert who was born in Hammersmith, left the UK in 2013 to travel to Syria to become part of the Islamic State caliphate.
While part of ISIS, he posed for pictures while brandishing a firearm and contacted his wife in Britain to arrange for cash to be sent out to bankroll the terrorist group.
At the Old Bailey on Monday, Davis admitted two charges of funding terrorism and a count of possession of a firearm for a terrorist purpose.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, adjourned sentencing until next month.
Davis had been suspected of being part of the so-called ‘Beatles’ group of British men within ISIS who carried out the horrific torture and execution of captured British and US citizens.
Mohammed Emwazi was dubbed ‘Jihadi John’ as he carried out the televised killings, and he was killed in a drone strike. Two other members of the cell, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, are currently serving jail sentences in the US.
Davis has denied involvement in the killings.
Defence lawyer Mark Summers KC said in July last year, lawyers in the IS Beatles case in Virginia clarified they were not seeking to bring a prosecution against Davis “because the evidence was there were only three members and not four members of that cell”.
He was jailed in Turkey for membership of ISIS, and then deported to the UK where he faced fresh charges.
They centred on a plot to smuggle €20,000 out of the UK to a contact in Turkey through his then-wife Amal El-Wahabi in January 2014.
Davis, who used the name Hamza after converting to Islam, maintained regular contact with El-Wahabi by phone and internet after travelling to Syria.
She helped him with a plan for her friend, Nawal Masaad, 36, to unwittingly act as courier for the terrorist funds.
But Masaad was stopped at Heathrow Airport on January 16 2014 as she was about to board a flight to Istanbul with 20,000 euros stuffed inside her tights.
Investigators linked the cash seizure back to El-Wahabi, and uncovered terrorist propaganda at the home she had shared with Davis.
They also found on her mobile phone a picture sent by Davis in November 2013 in Syrian woods with a man holding a Kalashnikov rifle.
Davis told his wife: “Don’t show this to anyone but yuyu. (sic). I mean it.”
He sent another picture posing with 13 others in military-style clothes, all with guns held aloft.
El-Wahabi was found guilty of funding terrorism and jailed for 28 months, while Ms Masaad was cleared of wrongdoing.
Davis, who was first captured in November 2015 in Istanbul, entered his guilty pleas on Monday via videolink from HMP Belmarsh. He is due to be sentenced on November 13.
