British jihadist who faked death in Syria to plot UK attack convicted of terrorism offences

A British jihadist who faked his own death in Syria so he could return to attack the UK undetected has been convicted of terrorism offences.

Imran Khawaja, 27, from Southall, west London, pleaded guilty to four terrorism offences after spending six months in Syria alongside jihadi fighters last year.

In one video posted online from the war-torn country, Khawaja can be seen holding a severed head while wearing a mask so he is not identified.

He was falsely reported to have died fighting by the terrorist group Rayat al-Tawheed. His cousin, Tahir Bhatti, 44, from Watford, then picked him up from Bulgaria to drive him back to the UK, and the pair were arrested at Dover.

Khawaja pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism, attending a camp, receiving training and possessing firearms in December. He denied a charge of soliciting murder last year with against people unknown. This charge will now to lie on file.

His pleas can now be reported after his cousin pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

At a previous hearing, prosecutor Mark Dawson said Bhatti was well aware Khawaja had been training in Syria, with the court shown images from Khawaja's phone showing him at training camp with an assault rifle

Last June, Bhatti convinced his cousin to return to the UK as his parents were not well.

Defending, Joel Bennathan QC had argued: "He was doing what Muslim families are meant to do – tell them to desist and come out of Syria."

A third suspect, Asim Ali, 33, has also admitted entering into a funding arrangement for the purposes of terrorism.

Commander Richard Walton, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Imran Khawaja was not a vulnerable teenager that has travelled out to Syria and been coerced to travel to Syria.

"This is a man who has chosen the path of terrorism. We don't know why he came back. We don't know what he was planning.

"But this is a dangerous man, a trained terrorist."

All three will be sentenced on 5 February, with Khawaja facing a life imprisonment.