Mohammed Bashir, 31, transported Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, on a 10-hour return journey to carry out hostile surveillance at the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Swindon, on August 14 last year before they intentionally destroyed their mobile phones, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Background of the plot
Fewer than two months later, Al-Shamie was gunned down by police on October 2 while executing his terrorist assault at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in which two worshippers were killed.
Following the attack, WhatsApp messages and voice note conversations between the duo were discovered when police examined two phones confiscated from Al-Shamie when he was arrested in February 2025 over an alleged breach of a non-molestation order and in September 2025 when he was detained on suspicion of rape.
Prosecution case
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay KC said: "The prosecution case is that Mohammad Bashir is a long-standing, committed jihadist. The attack that was being planned was of the sort that Jihad Al-Shamie in fact carried out on October 2, an attack involving weapons that would cause multiple fatalities and have national and international impact."
"Analysis of Bashir and Al-Shamie's messages to each other demonstrated they were both close associates and both shared an extremist worldview. They were both interested in, and regularly discussed, violent jihad."
Bashir's admission
Just last month, Bashir, from Shaftesbury Road, Cheetham, admitted to the preparation of terrorist acts. Bashir, born in Manchester and also holding a Pakistani passport, has no prior convictions.
Bashir was apprehended at Manchester Airport on November 27 but wasn't charged in connection with the synagogue attack.
Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, lost their lives after Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, rammed his Kia Picanto into the synagogue gates and launched a knife attack, donning a fake suicide belt.
MoD Shrivenham
MoD Shrivenham, the court was told, is the base of the UK Defence Academy, which offers professional defence and security education to the British Armed Forces, wider UK government, UK industry and overseas personnel. Typically, there can be up to 4,000 staff, contractors, students and visitors on site at any one time.
The two-day sentencing hearing continues.
