AN ILLEGAL immigrant arrested in Suffolk under anti-terrorism laws had downloaded a bomb-making guide from the internet and made notes from it, a court has heard.

By Danielle Nuttall

AN ILLEGAL immigrant arrested in Suffolk under anti-terrorism laws had downloaded a bomb-making guide from the internet and made notes from it, a court has heard.

French national Jacques Karim Abi-Ayad, 40, had stored documents on how to make explosives from household chemicals in a shoebox, along with newspaper cuttings about al Qaida terrorists, the Bali bombings and September 11, it was alleged.

The Old Bailey heard yesterday how Algerian-born Abi-Ayad told police he fled France in 2000 after repeatedly stabbing a man who he believed had racially abused his family.

He arrived in the UK and sought work using forged documents and false names, it was claimed.

But while living at Gippeswyk Road, Ipswich, he applied for a National Insurance number, which aroused the suspicions of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Police later discovered a shoebox, which he had stored at his friend's address in London Road, Ipswich, containing information about making explosives from household items, hand-written notes and sketches and newspaper articles about global terrorism atrocities.

Abi-Ayad denies one charge under the Terrorism Act 2000 that on or before April 2 he possessed documents containing information for terrorist purposes.

The prosecution says the documents relate to the production of explosives from household items and also hand-written notes and sketches relating to "potentially viable explosive mixtures".

It claims these documents are of a kind likely to be useful by a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Opening the case for the prosecution yesterday, Sean Larkin told the jury Abi-Ayad had been living in France in 2000, where his daughter was attending a local school.

The family had encountered difficulties with racist abuse, he added, and Abi-Ayad had taken a knife and stabbed a man he thought was responsible for the problem.

"Having stabbed him several times he fled France and came to this country. He lived and worked in this country under a number of different identities," said Mr Larkin.

The barrister said in March this year, Abi-Ayad had applied for a National Insurance number using a false name. He was asked to attend an interview where he produced false documents, he added.

Mr Larkin said when the Department for Work and Pensions became suspicious, Abi-Ayad realised the authorities might visit his address and so moved a lot of his possessions to a friend's house in London Road.

When police visited his friend's address, they found a shoebox containing the bomb-making book and newspaper cuttings, it was alleged.

The court heard that in interview, Abi-Ayad had allegedly told police that while he had been in the UK he had been sentenced to life in prison in France for attempting to murder the man he had stabbed.

The defendant claimed he went on the internet and looked on the search engine Google, where he had found what some call the "Anarchists Cookbook".

He told police how he downloaded the item and saved it on to CD because he wanted to get revenge on the man he had stabbed, the court heard.

"He said he felt angry. He wanted to get revenge on the man he had stabbed by building a chemical fire bottle and fire bomb the man he had stabbed," said Mr Larkin.

Abi-Ayad told police his anger later passed and he kept the documents. Without thinking about them any more, he moved them to another address, he added.

"The prosecution say that never amounts to a reasonable excuse. Even if the documents are not for a terrorist purpose it matters not," said Mr Larkin.

"These are the sorts of documents that people should not have, say the Crown, and if you have them to cause serious injury or murder it simply does not amount to a reasonable excuse."

The trial continues today.