Student Joshua Walker 'assisted US special forces' in Syria
- Published
Josh Walker denies a charge relating to possessing terrorist information
A student accused of possessing a terrorism manual has told a court he was a Kurdish interpreter for "US special forces" while helping fight so-called Islamic State in Syria.
Birmingham Crown Court heard Joshua Walker, 27, from Bristol, travelled to Syria in the summer of 2016 where he said he helped a Kurdish militia group.
Mr Walker is accused of having a partial copy of The Anarchist Cookbook.
He denies a charge relating to possessing terrorist information.
The 111-page partial copy of the manual, found at his university bedsit in Dan-y-Coed, Aberystwyth, contained instructions on making plastic explosives, hand grenades, pipe bombs and detonators, jurors were told.
Mr Walker, of Conduit Road, Bristol, travelled to the Middle East and was detained by officers at Gatwick Airport on his return to the UK in December, the court heard.
Asked why he had gone to the region, the international politics and strategic studies student said: "I travelled to help a group called the YPG, which has recently liberated the capital of Islamic State, as they were fighting desperately against IS.
"I believed what they were trying to do was the only opportunity to stop the terrorist horror going on there."
Mr Walker said he was assisting "US special forces" because "they'd brought an interpreter of the wrong dialect".
Mr Walker is on trial at Birmingham Crown Court
The partial copy of the manual was found while he was being questioned.
Mr Walker said he had printed it off for a strategy war-gaming session while at the University of Aberystwyth, and described it as a "rulebook" used to "add a little flavour" to the role-playing exercise, pitting fictional terrorists against counter-terrorism forces.
He claimed he had "forgotten" about the text, believing it had "been burned" at a beach party along with other material used in the game, and only remembered it when police brought it up.
Asked by the prosecution if he would have made use of the "cookbook", Walker replied: "No, I'm quite fond of my hands - I don't want to lose them following some possibly rubbish ingredients from recipes from years ago."
He also denied it would be of use to potential terrorists, telling jurors "I don't know those kinds of people".
Mr Walker said: "Now, having been brought through the process, now I know there's some possibility that it could be used [for terrorism].
"But at the time I had no idea about that."
Mr Walker denies a charge of possession of a record of terrorist information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terror.
The trial continues.