Diary of death 'proves wife knew of liquid bomber's murder plans'

THE wife of one of the liquid bomb plotters knew he planned to carry out mass murder by blowing up passenger jets, but she failed to tell the police, a court heard yesterday.

• Cossor Ali (right) is accused of keeping quiet about her husband Abdulla Ahmed Ali's plot to blow up transatlantic jets

Cossor Ali, 28, was beginning to sympathise with her husband's extremist beliefs and decided to keep his suicide plan secret, Inner London Crown Court was told.

Richard Whittam, QC, prosecuting, read the jury an entry that she allegedly made in a notebook in 2005 when she was waiting for Abdulla Ahmed Ali to return from Pakistan.

It said: "I am growing more and more attached to the cause for which you are striving for (sic], and the reason for which we are apart. I hope and pray Allah grants your wish and gives you the highest level of shahada (martyrdom]."

Mr Whittam told the court that Ali had known her husband intended to commit an act of terrorism, since he had written his will in March 2004.

He said: "Cossor Ali knew that her husband intended to become a martyr, which, in the context of her relationship with him, her knowledge of his beliefs and the beliefs that he had shared with her, meant that he intended to commit an act of terrorism that involved his own death."

The court heard that police found notes which Abdulla Ahmed Ali had made and that they had his wife's fingerprints on them. Islamic extremist books were also found in their one-bedroom flat in Walthamstow, east London, as was Mr Ali's will.

It read: "We know with full certainty that we are going to die, so let us aim high and strive for the best death ie shahadah, and let us do the most pleasing deed to Allah and make the greatest sacrifice, fight with our life, tongue and wealth in the path of Allah."

During a police interview, she denied all knowledge of the plot, saying she thought her husband had bought a powdered drink, Tang, from Pakistan because he was developing his own product.

In fact, this was to be used to colour liquid explosives so they looked like soft drinks, the court was told.

Cossor Ali has pleaded not guilty to having information that was of material assistance in preventing her husband committing an act of terrorism.

• Reasonable grounds exist for suspecting that a father of five is the leader of a terrorist-related group in the UK, the High Court ruled yesterday.

A judge said that the Home Secretary had reasonable grounds to suspect that BM – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was the leader of a group in Ilford, Essex, that was "involved in promoting terrorism".