The jihadi who killed 17 people including JC writer Peter Moss and a Moroccan-Israeli couple in a bomb attack on a restaurant in Marrakesh earlier this year has been sentenced to death.

The Moroccan anti-terror court in Sale, next to Rabat, also sentenced a co-conspirator to life imprisonment, and seven others to jail terms of two to four years.

Al Qaeda in North Africa claimed responsibility for the bombing on April 28, which left 20 others badly injured.

The attack's principal organiser, Adil Othmani, who received the death sentence, admitted his guilt before an examining magistrate but later retracted his confession.

One of his co-accused gave evidence that Othmani had told him of his intention to wage jihad. Othmani's lawyer has said he will appeal.

West Hampstead writer and stand-up comedian Peter Moss was 59 at his death and a father of two. The Moroccan Ambassador to London attended his funeral, and assured the JC at the time of her country's "firm determination to rapidly bring those accountable to justice".