Charity cash funded 7/7 bombs claim

THE London 7/7 bombers used thousands of pounds of charity donations to fund propaganda activities, it’s claimed.

The father of Oldham victim David Foulkes expressed horror at the allegations that cash intended for good causes was used by terrorists Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer.

BBC’s “Children In Need” gave £20,000 to the Leeds Community School in Beeston, West Yorkshire, between 1998 and 1999 to fund educational work for local children.

But the school shared premises and funding with the Iqra bookshop, where Siddique Khan and Tanweer worked.

BBC’s “Newsnight” programme claimed they siphoned off the cash to produce hundreds of propaganda videos glorifying armed Islamic resistance and to pay for outward bound trips.

Four suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured hundreds on the London Underground and a bus in Tavistock Square on July 7, 2005.

Graham Foulkes, whose son David (22) was killed in the Edgware Road blast, said: “I was absolutely horrified, staggered, really surprised, quite shocked.

“But then having thought about it for a while, perhaps not too surprised because we know these four bombers and the other bombers in jail started out by committing benefit fraud, credit card fraud and identity fraud to gather as much money as they could to fund their activities.”

A former employee of the school and bookshop, Martin Gilbertson, told the programme the school received thousands of pounds in funding, some of which was used by Khan and Tanweer. He become increasingly alarmed by their extremism.

He said: “Leeds Community School got just short of a quarter of a million pounds in funding from Leeds City Council and other sources. They hated western culture — it was like living with jihad on a daily basis.”

Children In Need chief executive David Ramsden said: “We did make an award to Leeds Community School over nine years ago and any allegation that any funding we’ve given to any project has been misused makes me very sad.”