Police bugging device captured London terror suspect describing group as 'Four Lions' - from the film about incompetent jihadis

A police bugging device captured one of the defendants telling his estranged wife that she must think they were the “Four Lions” - a reference to the British film about an incompetent group of home-grown jihadis, the court heard.

But, Ashik Ali is alleged to have added, they were one man short: there were only three of them. His comments came after the chief fundraiser, Rahin Ahmed, was “cast adrift” after he lost £9,000 by “unwise and incompetent” trading on the foreign currency exchanges, said Brian Altman QC, prosecuting.

The court heard that the plotters had intended to bring him in on the planned action but that was abandoned after he lost the money.

The cash represented the greater part of the sums raised using charity collecting buckets on the streets of Birmingham, the court heard.

Mr Ahmed, 26, had “broken the trust” of the key players in the plot and they discussed him selling his car or taking out bank loans to recoup the money, said Mr Altman. Ahmed has admitted an offence of engaging in conduct in support of terrorism. He is yet to be sentenced.