A man has been jailed for six years for plotting to “hunt down” and kill a British soldier.

London’s Southwark Crown Court heard that British-born Abu Mansha had planned to kill or harm the soldier in revenge for his success in Iraq.

Cpl Mark Byles, 34, was awarded the Military Cross after leading an attack in which five insurgents died.

Mansha, 21, from Thamesmead, south London, had denied a charge under the Terrorism Act.

The market trader, who was said to have been obsessed with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, had earlier been convicted of possessing a document containing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

‘Utter incompetent’

During a search of Mansha’s flat, police recovered a gun, newspaper cuttings about the soldier’s exploits, and a stash of DVDs containing “virulent anti-West propaganda”.

There was also a poem by the defendant describing President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair as “dirty pigs”.

Mansha had argued he was using the cuttings and DVDs for journalistic purposes.

His defence barrister described Mansha as an “utter incompetent”, adding: “This man is not really into terrorism, not in the way the public understands that.”

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