Terror chief who called himself 'Osama Bin London' jailed indefinitely

A terror chief who called himself "Osama Bin London" was jailed indefinitely yesterday.

Mohammed Hamid, 50, recruited and groomed young Muslims, including four of the July 21 bombers, and urged them to carry out attacks bigger than 7/7.

He even boasted that the murder of 52 commuters in the 2005 attacks was "not even a breakfast for me".

The militant was backed by Atilla Ahmet, 44, who referred to himself as "the number one Al-Qaeda in Europe".

Ahmet, who pleaded guilty to three charges of soliciting to murder, was jailed for six years and eleven months.

Hamid was found guilty of organising terrorist training and soliciting murder at a trial last month.

The judge, Mr Justice Pitchers, at Woolwich Crown Court, told Hamid, he would serve at least seven and a half years behind bars before being considered for release.

He said that he believed the terror coach had sent trainees to Afghanistan in the past, and added: "You are, in my judgement, dangerous.

"You can be quite genuinely amusing and charming. You used your charm and your knowledge of the Koran to influence others into terrorism.

"I am satisfied that the primary purpose of the encouragement was to commit offences abroad, as was the training.

"However none of your helpers can be proved actually to have gone abroad and I cannot sentence you on the basis you encouraged the 21/7 bombers, although it is significant they felt comfortable enough with you to come to your camps.

"You will continue to be a danger not simply by your own actions but by your ability to influence the actions of others."

Hamid, from Hackney, East London, mumbled into his beard throughout sentence but showed no other emotion.

The judge accepted that Ahmet had acted partly because of his "love of the limelight" at public meetings.

He added: "I accept probably that you would yourself not engage in terrorist acts.

"You always found an excuse not to go on any training camp if it involved loss of comfort.

"However, young, unsophisticated Muslim men might easily be taken in by your forceful personality and the fact you were appointed Emir of the group demonstrates this to be so."

The Court heard that the 21/7 bombers and other terror recruits joined Hamid at remote camps across the UK, where they practised what police believe were army ambush drills.

A BBC documentary crew filmed one terror meeting, believing it was a harmless paintballing fun weekend for the show Don't Panic I'm Islamic.

Some of the corporation's most senior journalists later refused to contact the police when Hamid told filmmakers he knew the identities of the 21/7 bombers.

Hamid attended camps with convicted bomb plotters Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed, Hussain Osman, Yassin Omar and Adel Yahya at Baysbrown Farm, Great Langdale, Cumbria, in 2004.

Hamid chose the area because the terrain was similar to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, where he had been in 2002 supposedly as part of a charity mercy mission.

The terror coach was once arrested while manning his Islamic literature stall near Marble Arch, central London, in 2004 for racially abusing police officers who asked him to stop blocking the pavement.

The Tanzanian immigrant gave his name as Osama Bin London and his address as Tora Bora and warned: "I've got a bomb and I'm going to blow you all up."

On July 7, 2005, the day 52 people died in the London suicide bombings, Hamid sent a message to Hussein Osman saying: "We will not change our ways, we are proud to be a Muslim and we will not hide."

At the same weekend at Jameah Islameah, a Muslim private school near Crowborough, east Sussex, Ahmet was taped teaching children a sick song praising terrorists.

He crooned the words: "Come, mister Taliban, come bomb England, before the daylight come you wanna see 10 Downing Street done" to the tune of Harry Belafonte's innocuous Banana Boat Song.

The recordings were made by an undercover detective known only by the cover name "Dawood", who infiltrated Hamid's circle of extremists.