A man who tried to frame his landlady’s partner for a 2017 terrorist attack outside the UK Parliament has been sentenced to prison.
Gerald Banyard sent two anonymous letters to police suggesting a second man had incited Khalid Masood to launch a killing spree.
But the alleged second man, Ian Anderson-Boles, had nothing to do with the attack and was implicated because of a dispute over a faulty boiler in a flat that Banyard rented from Mr Anderson-Boles's partner.
Banyard took his opportunity for revenge after Masood carried a terrorist attack in England in 2017. Using a hired car, Masood ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in central London, killing four.
He then ran on to parliamentary grounds and stabbed a policeman to death. Masood's rampage ended when he was shot dead by armed officers.
Banyard, 67, from Whalley, Lancashire, sent a package to police eight days after the attack claiming to be an American tourist who had found a suspicious note in his hotel room.
The note, which was signed "Ian" and included Mr Anderson-Boles’s mobile phone number, urged Masood to “stick a cop”. A second note further sought to implicate the man and his partner.
Banyard denied sending the notes but was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after several hundred police hours were wasted on inquiries.
At a court in London on Thursday, Judge Christopher Hehir sentenced him to more than three years in prison.
"You are a truly devious and manipulative man," he said. “Your conduct involved baseless allegations of complicity in an act of mass murder, which is what the Westminster attack was.
"I am quite sure you were out to ruin his life completely if you possibly could. It was not for want of trying that you did not succeed in that."
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Persuasion
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarrie%20Cracknell%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDakota%20Johnson%2C%20Cosmo%20Jarvis%2C%20Richard%20E%20Grant%2C%20Henry%20Golding%20and%20Nikki%20Amuka-Bird%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Scoreline
Arsenal 3
Aubameyang (28'), Welbeck (38', 81')
Red cards: El Neny (90' 3)
Southampton 2
Long (17'), Austin (73')
Red cards: Stephens (90' 2)
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
