ten downing street

The son of a Muslim cleric banned from the UK has won his bid to reclaim £14,400 seized by police.

Abdul Fostock, 25, was stopped at Heathrow Airport in October 2006 as he tried to fly to Beirut to visit his father Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Mr Bakri Mohammed was ordered out of the UK after the 7/7 terror attacks.

Police believed Mr Fostock's cash would be used for "terrorist purposes", but Southwark Crown Court supported his assertion that the money was a gift.

In his ruling, Judge David Higgins also criticised police evidence concerning Mr Bakri Mohammed's involvement in terrorist groups.

He said the evidence was "unreliable" as it relied heavily upon "open sourced material", namely entries in online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

'Intended for crime'

Mr Fostock, from Enfield, north London, was carrying £14,420 in a series of envelopes marked "daddy", "mum", "sheikh" and "spending money" when police stopped him.

He told officers he received the money from "friends and family" and intended to distribute it as an "Eid present" when reunited with his parents in Lebanon.

But Det Sgt Russell Hughes told the court that there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect that the money was "intended for the purposes of crime".

However Judge Higgins said he was satisfied that the cash was "an Eid gift, it was not for the purposes of terrorism".

"It was an act of humanity given at the end of the month of Ramadan when the minds of Muslims turn to such matters," the judge said.

The Met was ordered to repay the money within 14 days and to cover Mr Fostock's court costs of £4,000.

Judge Higgins also noted that Mr Bakri Mohammed had "never been charged with or convicted of anything" despite his exclusion from the UK in 2005.