| Aine Lesley Davis | |
| Birth Date: | 11 February 1984[1] |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Spouse: | Amal el-Wahabi |
| Conviction: | |
| Penalty: |
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| Status: | Incarcerated |
| Nationality: | British |
| Other Names: |
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Aine Lesley Davis (born 11 February 1984), also known as Jihadi Paul, is a British convert to Islam who was convicted in a Turkish court of being a member of a terrorist group while serving as a fighter for the ISIL.
Aine Davis was born in Hammersmith, London on 11 February 1984. He is reported to have been a drug dealer, and is thought to have converted to Islam shortly after being jailed in 2006 for firearms offences.[3]
Davis was married to Amal El-Wahabi, who was born in the United Kingdom to parents of Moroccan origin. She attended Holland Park Comprehensive.[4] El-Wahabi and Davis met at her mosque's daycare, when they were 19 years old. The pair had two children together.[5]
He is thought to have left United Kingdom for Syria in July 2013.
In August 2014, El-Wahabi was convicted of funding terrorism, for trying to send €20,000 to her husband, described in court as a fighter for ISIL.
After his departure El-Wahabi had asked a friend, from Holland Park Comprehensive, to smuggle the funds to Turkey, in her underwear. The Mirror, and other newspapers reporting on the trial, described the friend as having been duped into smuggling funds, without realizing the funds were intended to support terrorism.[6] The friend was acquitted. Messages on El-Wahabi's mobile phone, between herself and Davis, were used by the prosecution to argue that El-Wahabi should have realized Davis was involved in militancy and that funds sent to Davis would be supporting terrorism. Citing text messages the pair exchanged on their mobile phones, the prosecution argued that El-Wahabi arranged the funds transfer to retain Davis's loyalty, because he had talked of taking a second wife.
In November 2014, El-Wahabi received a 28-month sentence, half of which she would have to serve in custody.
ISIL held some European and North American captives, and it was widely reported that they were tortured, subjected to mock executions, and some of them were ultimately beheaded. Four United Kingdom guards, dubbed The Beatles, were alleged to have played a central role in their abuse. The most vocal, who appeared in several videos, issuing threats, was dubbed "Jihadi John". Davis, whose identity had not been established, was alleged to have been "Jihadi Paul".
Davis was captured by Turkish security officials, in Istanbul, on 12 November 2015. A Turkish court subsequently convicted him of being a member of a terrorist group and sentenced him to seven and a half years in jail.
At his trial in 2017, Davis denied being a member of Islamic State. He claimed to have been living in Gaziantep, Turkey and to have visited Syria on only two occasions to do "aid work". He further claimed to have travelled to Istanbul with the purpose of obtaining a fake passport as he was aware he was a "wanted man". He admitted being acquainted with Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, having attended the same mosque, in London but denied encountering him in Syria. He claimed a photo of him, posing with armed fighters, dated to 2013, and he had taken it as a joke in Idlib and did not know who the gunmen were.
In February 2018, several captives who had endured abuse by the surviving members of "The Beatles", called for them to face prosecution in the United Kingdom.
On 10 August 2022, Davis was deported[7] from Turkey to the United Kingdom. Upon arrival at Luton Airport, he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command and taken into custody under various sections of the Terrorism Act 2000.[8] [9] On 11 August 2022, he was charged under sections 15, 17 and 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and remanded into custody.[10]
On 10 March 2023, Davis appeared at the Old Bailey for his plea hearing on charges of possessing a firearm "for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism" and two charges of funding terrorism. Entering a plea of "not guilty", he was remanded into custody by Judge Mark Lucraft KC pending a further hearing on 18 April 2023.[11] [12]
On 16 October, Davis appeared in court again, where he pleaded guilty to all three charges. His sentencing was scheduled for 13 November.[13] On 13 November he was sentenced to 8 years in prison, consisting of 6 years for the firearms charge and 2 years for the fundraising charges. He was further sentenced to 2 years on licence once his prison term is up.[14]