UK estate agent in prison after terrorist plot to kill British soldiers

An estate agent is starting a six-year jail sentence after being found guilty for his part in a terrorist recruitment ring.

Matthew Newton, a white British citizen, took part in a plot to recruit young men to ‘fight, kill and die’ in Afghanistan, where their intended victims were to be British servicemen.

Newton, 29, was the son of a born-again Christian mother who became interested in Islam about five years ago when he started working for an estate agent in Manchester. He then converted and took the Islamic name Hamza.

Shortly after this, he met former Taliban fighter Munir Farooqi, a Pakistani-born British citizen, who had already been jailed for being an active terrorist in Pakistan. On release, he headed back to Britain, recruiting the estate agent plus local gang members to his cause.

The plot was revealed when two undercover anti-terrorism officers infiltrated the group. They spent a year pretending to be radicalised by it.

Relatives recalled how Newton changed from being a quiet, easy-going child, growing up into a hate-filled religious extremist.

At the trial, he was described as deeply anti-Semitic. He was convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications.

Although he was described by Mr Justice Richard Henriques as a ‘significant’ member of Farooqi’s team, the judge said that Newton told one of the undercover investigators he might not follow through with a plan to go to Afghanistan.

During the terrorism trial, Newton was out on bail and continued to work, this time on a perfume stall at Longsight market in Manchester – ironically, the same market where the plotters ran an Islamic bookstall to spread the word of Islam. In breaks in court proceedings, reporters noted that Newton always appeared friendly and jovial.

His uncle, Nigel Robinson, said that his nephew’s interest in Islam had begun out of curiosity.

Det Chief Supt Tony Porter said: “The worst thing that happened to Matthew Newton was to come across Munir Farooqi. He was susceptible to Farooqi’s ideology and that was his grave misfortune. The art of radicalisation is to go for vulnerable people.”