Published at 17:38, Sunday, 20 January 2013

A MAN arrested in the south Lakes has been convicted of terrorism offences.

Craig Slee, 42, set up a Facebook account to upload terrorist propaganda, including pictures of beheadings.

Slee was arrested in July 2011 at an address on Craig Walk, Windermere, following an investigation by the North West Counter Terrorism Unit.

Slee, who gave a Preston address in court, pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon. On Friday he was sentenced to five years prison at Preston Crown Court.

The court heard Slee created a false identity and set up a Facebook page using the alter-ego ‘Hashim X Shakur’. He was also the creator and administrator of another Facebook account called ‘FB Mujahideen’.

On his ‘Hashim X Shakur’ Facebook account, Slee claimed to be a Muslim and provided personal information about himself, the majority of which was false.

He also posted links to a communiqué by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and uploaded several videos, which included gruesome beheadings and Islamist terrorist propaganda material.

He also engaged in Facebook chat claiming he had been on trips to Jalalabad, intimated he had suffered shrapnel injuries and
inferred he was a member of the Taliban. These were all fabrications.

In fact Slee had no connection to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist network or organisation.

As part of the investigation, officers also recovered a can of CS gas from an address in Preston linked to Slee.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “It is clear that Slee was a total fantasist. What this case illustrates is the very real dangers of misusing the material that is ready available on the internet.’’

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk