Alleged associate of synagogue attacker denies charges

Mohammad Bashir, 31, pleaded not guilty on Friday to preparation of terrorist acts.

He also denied three counts of disseminating terrorist publications on WhatsApp on dates in November and December 2024.

The first charges alleges he drove Jihad Al-Shamie to the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, last August 14 to carry out hostile reconnaissance of the location.

This was weeks before the synagogue attack.

Bashir did so “with the intention of assisting Jihad Al-Shamie to commit acts of terrorism”, the charge states.

The assistance allegedly provided by Bashir was not in relation to the attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Crumpsall last October 2.

Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed after 35-year-old Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, drove his Kia Picanto into the gates of the synagogue.

He then began attacking with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt and was shot dead by armed police as he carried out the attack.

Bashir was arrested at Manchester Airport on November 27.

He faces a four-week trial from July 6 at Manchester Crown Court before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

Bashir, of Shaftsbury Road, Manchester, was remanded into custody ahead of a pre-trial review at the Old Bailey on June 5.