Tunisian national accused of plot to kill Jews claims he was only ‘role playing’

In 2017 he said he met a Syrian man outside a mosque in Norwich and later gave him £120 towards a flight home to see his family.

Saadaoui told jurors: “If someone needs help I would help them out. We are brought up like that. It’s our culture.”

He said he “felt sorry” for the Syrian, known as Person A, when he messaged him from overseas to say he needed cash to smuggle his wife and children to safety in Syria.

More cash was transferred to Person A when he claimed he was injured and needed to get to hospital, said the defendant, before Person A later wrote: “I am one of the mujahideen. I have got your name on record. You sent me money.

“If you don’t answer I will report you to the police. Once they know who you sent money to, you are finished.”

Person A visited Saadaoui’s Albatross restaurant in Great Yarmouth in 2019 where he said he handed over £3,000 as part of an “Islamic tax”.

The demands for money continued, he said, as Person A “made it clear” he would cut off his head if he did not pay up.

Saadaoui said Person A had also told him to join a private messenger chat group and to open various Facebook accounts where he would “copy and paste” content sent to him, which he said he did not read.

Among the posts, the court was told, were those that glorified the 2015 Islamic State gun attacks in Paris.

Asked by his barrister Felicity Gerry KC how he felt about the Paris atrocity, he said: “It’s horrible. I disagree with killing innocent people.”

Saadaoui said he “ran away” from his successful business in Norfolk with his new wife, Michelle, and their two children in the summer of 2023 to evade Person A and start a new life in Wigan, Greater Manchester, near his siblings.

He planned to start up a beekeeping business but weeks later Person A tracked him down, he said.

When Farouk first contacted him online in December 2023, the defendant said he believed it was “a test” by Person A.

Ms Gerry said: “Did you have any inkling that Farouk was an undercover operative?”

“No,” said Saadaoui.

Ms Gerry said: “Who did you think he was?”

Saadaoui said: “A terrorist that communicates to Person A behind my back, and they were both testing me.”

During their interactions, he said Farouk was “doing everything… hiring cars, travelling all over Europe, arranging for the supply of firearms, contacting the middle men, taking the risks”.

Saadaoui told the jury: “My job is just to talk and convince him I’m the man for this job.”

He said he believed the purpose of bringing firearms into the UK was to carry out a terrorist attack.

On May 8 last year he was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at a hotel car park in Bolton as he approached the open boot of a car containing two assault rifles, a semi-automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition.

Saadaoui said he had planned to “cut up” the firearms with an angle grinder and then set up a meeting with Person A, Farouk and others in the private chat group before he called the police to swoop and arrest them.

Ms Gerry said: “Was your intention to sabotage their plans?”

“Yes,” said Saadaoui.

He said he feared for years he would be “kidnapped and murdered” by Person A and “never had the courage to tell the police until it was too late”.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, added: “I think I have learnt that people usually take full advantage of my kindness. I don’t know when to say no to people and they think I’m a pushover.

“That’s how I got into this situation in the first place.”

Saadaoui, of Abram, Wigan, and his co-defendant Amar Hussein, 52, of no fixed address, deny preparing acts of terrorism between December 13 2023 and May 9 2024.

Saadaoui’s brother Bilel Saadaoui, 36, of Hindley, Wigan, has pleaded not guilty to failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism in the same period.

Walid Saadaoui will be cross-examined by the prosecution on Thursday.