Weapons hoarder Anwar Driouich jailed again over court breach

Anwar Driouich was previously jailed after admitting having 10kg of ammonium nitrate and seven terror manuals

A man convicted of having an explosive substance and terror manuals has been sent back to prison for hiding an alias and financial records from police.

Anwar Driouich, from Teesside, was jailed in 2020 and later ordered to give officers information about himself so he could be monitored.

The 24-year-old was sentenced to a further 18 months at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday.

He had pleaded guilty to a total of three charges at previous hearings.

Driouich, of The Avenue, Teesville, will be subject to an extended 12-month licence on his release, meaning he must abide by certain conditions or face going back to prison.

In 2020, he was given a 20-month jail sentence after admitting having 10kg of ammonium nitrate and seven terror manuals.

The Old Bailey had heard he was a fantasist who hoarded weapons and was obsessed with US shootings.

He wrote in a Facebook chat he was a "cold-blooded SOB" who wanted to carry out a "massacre".

Police found a haul of weapons when they searched Driouich's Middlesbrough home following his previous arrest

Driouich scoured the internet reading about mass shootings, terrorist attacks and "incels" - a term for young men who consider themselves "involuntarily celibate", a loose US online community responsible for high-profile murders and a mass shooting.

He had been arrested in London in August 2019 after a company reported his online order for 10kg of ammonium nitrate, a component of high explosives.

An examination of an iPhone revealed his stash of terror manuals and a note, under the password "killer", listing weapons, body armour and tactical equipment.

He was found to have previously bought a knuckleduster, retractable baton, handcuffs, balaclavas and instructions on making a flamethrower.

Police searched his home and recovered more chemicals, three knives, a crossbow, bullet moulders, ball bearings and arrow heads.

Following that conviction, he was required to provide police with information about himself but was arrested in January for breaching his conditions and taken back into custody, where he has remained.

Det Ch Supt Peter Craig, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said he hoped the sentence would "act as a reminder" that officers would continue to monitor people released from prison after being convicted of terrorism.