A former RAF gunner from Manchester who converted to Islam is facing a lengthy jail sentence after admitting preparing acts of terrorism.
Stephen Gray was a gunner stationed at Baghdad Airport, with No 2 Squadron after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by coalition forces.
Regiment gunners specialise in infantry tactics, weaponry, and force protection.
But after three years service he left the armed forces in 2004 and converted to Islam after becoming disillusioned with Britain’s role in the war.
He attended the Jamea’h Masjid-e-Noor mosque, in Stamford Street, Old Trafford, using the name Mustafa.
He did various jobs, including working in a call centre, and bricklayer.
In 2014 Gray, assisted by friend and Libyan refugee Abdalraouf Abdallah, twice attempted to get into Syria to join terror groups.
But he was stopped at the Turkish border both times.
He had hoped to meet up with Abdallah’s older brother, Mohammed Abdallah, and Nezar Khalifa, in Syria.
Gray’s friend, Ray Matimba, who travelled with him from Manchester, did get into Syria, and is believed to be still there.
Gray was arrested in November 2014 and pleaded guilty to three offences under the Terrorism Act.
He admitted receiving £182 from Matimba which he used to buy tickets for a flight from Manchester to Barcelona for him and Matimba on July 3rd 2014.
Read more: How Iraq veteran turned terror plotter Stephen Gray was caught by counter terrorism police
The pair flew on to Rome, and then Turkey.
But on July 5 Gray was refused entry to Syria via the Turkish border and sent back to Rome - Matimba did get across the border into Syria.
On July 8 Gray boarded a Eurostar train at St Pancras Station London to Brussels. He then made his way by road to Bulgaria to the Turkish border
But Turkish border police stopped him from entering Turkey after being tipped of by counter terrorism police in the UK.
He was arrested four months later by counter terrorism police on suspicion of overseas terrorism. His passport and £1,000 was confisacted.
Gray, 32, of Whitnall Street, Moss Side, pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court last year to committing acts of terrorism, being engaged in the preparation of these acts, and assisting acts of terrorism.
But his case can only be revealed today after Abdalraouf Abdallah, 22, was found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday of helping Gray and three others get to Syria.
The court was told how Abdalraouf Abdallah, 22, of Westerling Way, Moss Side, - a joint British and Libyan national - had been shot during the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi in August 2011. His injuries left him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair.
He came to England for life-saving surgery, where he met Gray and Matimba, who helped travel to fight for terrorist groups.
He was found guilty of assisting others in preparation, commission or assisting acts of terrorism, and funding terrorism.
Abdalraouf Abdallah did not react as the jury of six men and six women returned the verdicts.
Judge Christopher Kinch adjourned sentencing on a date to be announced and said: “There is another defendant who needs to be brought into the equation.
“The man, Stephen Gray, is before the court and is to come back before the court for consideration of sentence in his case.”
The court was told his injury was highly relevant to the prosecution case.
It meant he could not fight, and it was alleged he was therefore determined to assist in any way he could.
Phones and computers seized from Abdallah’s house revealed a huge amount of contact between himself, Gray, and others thought to be in Syria and Belgium, via websites, like Skype.
Abdallah also sent £2,000 via his father overseas to contacts fighting in Syria.
It was alleged Abdallah was accessing cash and contacts to help Gray and Matimba get to Syria and to procure weapons.
He was born to Christian parents and then converted to Islam after leaving the military.
He had his own cleaning company and two wives, under sharia law, who live in Manchester, and he is also a father.
