Mohammad Bashir, a 31-year-old Islamic extremist from Manchester, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 16 years on July 23, 2026, after plotting a terrorist attack on the UK Defence Academy with the man who carried out a fatal knife rampage at a local synagogue.
The judge also imposed a five-year serious crime prevention order to take effect after his release from custody.
Prosecutors established that he acted alongside Jihad Al-Shamie, the attacker who later drove a Kia Picanto into the gates of Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall on October 2, 2025—Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar—armed with a knife and wearing a fake suicide belt.
Hostile Reconnaissance at the UK Defence Academy
The plot targeted the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, a training campus for the British Armed Forces, wider government, industry personnel, and foreign students that can host up to 4,000 people at any given time. Court proceedings revealed that Bashir and Al-Shamie undertook a 10-hour round trip from Greater Manchester to Oxfordshire to conduct hostile reconnaissance on the site.
Surveillance and digital forensics later reconstructed the trip. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) noted that Bashir drove Al-Shamie to Shrivenham while Al-Shamie compiled notes on security arrangements on his phone under the title espionage
. The pair stopped at the campus for just 13 minutes before returning home the same day.
Prosecutors detailed that the plotters believed their activities would remain undetected. As prosecuting counsel Jonathan Polnay KC outlined, They selected a specific location believing, erroneously as it transpired, that their activities would not be captured on CCTV cameras.
Audio and visual evidence of the pair discussing their plans was later recovered from CCTV at the Al-Sunnah mosque in Cheetham Hill, where they were recorded discussing the attack.
Extremist Messaging and WhatsApp Conspiracies
Investigators uncovered extensive digital communications demonstrating a shared militant ideology after seizing data linked to the pair. Following the synagogue attack, counter-terrorism police reviewed phones and cloud data, discovering that both men had disposed of their initial devices.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb detailed that Bashir participated in a WhatsApp group set up by Al-Shamie named Aspiring to the Ranks of the Elite
, alongside 11 other members. Bashir contributed more than 2,000 messages to the chat, where he expressed virulent antisemitic opinions
and complained when his posts exalting martyrdom were deleted.
“The only time we have ties with the enemies of Allah is when we are tying one around their neck before we execute them and make their women widows and children orphans.”
Jihad Al-Shamie, via Manchester Evening News
The court heard that Al-Shamie responded in the chat with declarations about exterminating
Jewish men and taking women as concubines. Police searches of Al-Shamie’s phone also revealed queries regarding weapons, potential target sites, and individuals connected to the Israeli military.
Parallel Atrocities and Judicial Warnings
While the Defence Academy plot was never executed, Al-Shamie carried out the Crumpsall synagogue attack roughly seven weeks later. That incident resulted in the deaths of Adrian Daulby, 53, and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz. Mr. Cravitz sustained fatal stab wounds, while Mr. Daulby was inadvertently shot by police responding to the scene. Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed officers during the rampage.
Prosecutors maintained that had Al-Shamie survived, he would have stood trial alongside Bashir on the same terrorism preparation charges. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb emphasized the severity of the thwarted defense base conspiracy during sentencing.
“This was a viable plan… I am sure that you and he anticipated that you would both be martyred and intended to kill others.”
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, Manchester Crown Court
The judge underscored that Bashir had transitioned from ideological sympathy to active preparation, describing him as a long-standing, committed jihadist who lied to police during 11 interview sessions by maintaining a false narrative about his extremist views. In delivering the sentence, the judge invoked the Jewish Book of Proverbs: He who walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
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