‘Global Terrorist’ British Muslim Convert Still Too Dangerous to Release From Jail

A British Muslim convert described as a ‘global terrorist’ who kept manuals on how to fire mortar bombs and a secret code of terrorism remains too dangerous to be released from jail, a pro-professional board has decided.

Andrew Rowe, who took the Muslim name Yusef Abdullah, was sentenced to 15 years in September 2005 after being found guilty of possessing items that could be used in terrorist attacks.

At the Old Bailey trial Rowe, from west London, was said to have had the terrorist paraphernalia hidden in houses linked to him in London and Birmingham.

That sentence was reduced on appeal to 10 years in prison.

Rowe was released from jail in 2010 and was the subject of a 15-year notice order.

He was informed in March 2019 of a new obligation to give details of all vehicles used by him following a change in legislation.

It followed a series of terrorist attacks involving the use of vehicles as weapons in Britain and abroad.

In August 2019, Serco hired him to drive garbage trucks, but he hid the vehicles he was driving from the police, whom he was required to report under a terrorism reporting order.

In July 2021, he received a 10-month sentence at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty to failing to notify police about the use of four different vehicles on nine occasions between August 15 and September 27, 2019 after passing his good heavy vehicle test.

Rejecting a non-custodial sentence, Judge Angela Rafferty QC said: “You, a terrorist offender, drove a heavy vehicle into this city without notifying the police that you were doing so.”

She added: ‘He clearly knew what his notification requirements were, and this had been reiterated to him. This was a deliberate decision not to notify.

Last year, Rowe, now 51, became eligible for his first parole hearing since being removed. Under the terrorism legislation introduced in 2020, his case was referred to the Parole Board for his consideration.

The Parole Board rejected his appeal after the three-person panel read his prison file. She did not appear in person or testify to the panel.

Rowe will now have to wait until 2024 to reapply for his release from prison.

The 2005 conviction of Rowe, then 34, was notable because it came two months after the deaths of 56 travelers on July 7, 2005.

Four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London targeted commuters riding the city’s public transport system during the morning rush hour.

Rowe’s trial resulted in the first terrorism conviction since the tube and bus bombings and led the trial judge, Justice Fulford, to demand tougher penalties against the terrorists.

Rowe was jailed for seven and a half years on the two charges, making a total of 15 years, later reduced to 10 years on appeal.

In short, Justice Fulford complained that his sentencing powers to deal with potential terrorists were too limited.

He said: ‘Ten years is not adequate and courts should have the option of a discretionary life sentence. The government should give immediate and urgent consideration to the adequacy of that term.’

Rowe was detained by police on the French side of the Channel Tunnel in 2003 when traces of explosives were found on the socks he was wearing.

Raids on their homes uncovered a handwritten guide to firing weapons on the battlefield, a coded sheet, videos of the 9/11 atrocities and tapes of Osama bin Laden.

He had used the names of specific Nokia mobile phone models as code for words and phrases like ‘airline crew’, ‘explosives’ and ‘military base’.

Rowe is also known to have met terror suspect Lionel Dumont, who was convicted in December 2005 of participating in armed robberies in France in 1996. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Dumont, an Islamic convert, fought in Bosnia and was involved in a plot to bomb a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in France in 1996.

He also spent years raising money for al Qaeda and organizing cells in Europe and Asia.

Rowe was returning from meeting Durmont in Frankfurt when French police detained him.

The court heard that his socks contained traces of TNT, PETN and RDX plastic explosives, and nitroglycerin.

The prosecution stated that they were probably used to clean the barrel of a mortar or as a muzzle guard.

Rowe claimed that the socks, which were tied with a drawstring, were used during martial arts training and that the explosive material was collected during a humanitarian visit to Bosnia in 1995.

Jurors were told Rowe, from Maida Vale, west London, traveled extensively after converting to Islam, including to places of conflict, and had held four passports in seven years.

A search of his former west London flat in August 2003 uncovered a notebook by WH Smith containing 22 pages of handwritten notes on aiming and firing a mortar.

Officers who raided his estranged wife’s home in Birmingham found the code on a video cassette box.

Other tapes were also found, including one called Jihad in Bosnia, as well as the “living wills” of two 9/11 terrorists.

Rowe, a father of four, admitted to writing the secret code, but said it was part of a plan to help Muslims in Chechnya.

He said he agreed to be a ‘messenger’ for help after someone asked him to at a west London mosque.

Rowe had long been under police scrutiny in the UK.

He claimed invalidity benefit after being injured by a mortar attack in Bosnia and was supervised withdrawing £7,000 from his bank account at various locations in London.

Rowe told jury that he became a Muslim in the 1990s after a drug-fuelled conversation at a rave party and was converted to the Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, London, an event that “gave meaning to my life.” .

The jury returned majority verdicts, but could not agree on a charge involving the socks. The charge was not pursued.

Judge Fulford told Rowe: ‘Whatever his terrorist purpose may have been, its fulfillment was imminent.

‘In the post-9/11 world, no imagination is required to comprehend what would have been in its contemplation and what its purpose would have been.

You were a paid agent for a considerable period of time, traveling the world and promoting the cause of Muslim fundamentalism.

The head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorism branch, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said after the conviction: “Today’s conviction of Andrew Rowe is important. He is a world terrorist.

He has been trained and knows how to use extreme violence. We don’t know when, what or where he was going to strike, but the public can be sure that a violent and dangerous man has been brought to justice.’

A Parole Board spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has rejected the release of Andrew Rowe following a paper review in March 2022.”

‘Parole Board decisions focus solely on what risk an inmate might pose to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

“A panel will carefully examine a wide range of evidence, including details of the original crime and any evidence of behavior change, as well as explore the harm done and the impact the crime has had on victims.

‘Parole reviews are carried out thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’