Convicted terrorist, 50, who kept handbook on how to fire mortar bombs is sent back to jail after not telling police he got a job driving bin lorries

Andrew Rowe leaving the court after admitting falsely claiming benefits in 2019

A convicted terrorist has been sent back to jail after hiding his job as a lorry driver from police.  

Andrew Rowe, 50, failed to declare the vehicles he was driving while employed by Serco as a rubbish collector in 2019, in breach of a notification order.

Counter-terrorism officers have been concerned about ex-offenders driving large vehicles since a wave of attacks that began in Nice in 2016, killing 86 people, which was followed by attacks at Westminster, London Bridge, and Finsbury Park in 2017. 

It is also known that Usman Khan, the terrorist who killed two graduates working on a Cambridge University prisoner rehabilitation scheme at Fishmongers' Hall, had tried to get work driving a tipper truck. 

Rowe pleaded guilty to failing to notify police about the use of four different vehicles on nine occasions between August 15 and September 27 2019 after passing his heavy good vehicle test and gaining a job with Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Over two months, Rowe drove four different vehicles a total of nine times. 

He was sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey to 10 months in jail, having admitted the nine breaches.

Judge Angela Rafferty QC stressed that notification requirements were of utmost importance to 'keep the public safe'.

She highlighted the 'carnage' of the recent attacks in which vehicles were used as weapons.

Rejecting a non-custodial sentence, she said: 'You, a terrorist offender, drove a heavy goods vehicle in this city without notifying the police you were doing so.'  

Judge Rafferty added: 'You clearly knew what your notification requirements were, and this had been reiterated to you. This was a deliberate decision not to notify.

'You understood any vehicles you drove during employment would be of particular interest. You decided to stop compliance with the requirements when you thought your chosen work would be prevented.'

She said the requirements were of the 'utmost importance to keep the public safe from terrorism' and added: 'The amendment to the requirements was against a backdrop of the carnage caused using vehicles in several atrocities in this jurisdiction and abroad.

'You were aware of the seriousness of the notification regime and the requirement for you to comply. You chose not to because it was difficult.

'The authorities must know when ex-terrorist offenders intend to drive heavy vehicles on the streets of this city. That is obvious and clear to any reasonable person.

'The notification requirements for convicted terrorists are imposed for the safety of all and to manage the risks inherent in this kind of offending.'

'You put your own self interest above the notification requirements.'

In 2005, Rowe was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty at the Old Bailey of having a notebook containing details on how to fire mortar bombs and a code for terrorism.

That sentence was reduced on appeal to 10 years in prison.

The defendant, of St Johns Wood, north west London, was released from prison in 2010 and made the subject of a 15-year notification order.

He was notified in March 2019 of a new obligation to give details of all vehicles used by him following a change in legislation.

It followed a series of terror attacks involving the use of vehicles as weapons in Britain and abroad.

In August 2019, Rowe told an officer that he was looking for a job driving heavy goods vehicles.

Police became aware he had got work with Serco via a recruitment agency to drive refuse lorries without notifying them.

Since starting his job, Rowe did not give police information about the vehicles he was using.

However, the court heard the defendant had told the agency and Serco about his previous convictions.

In mitigation, Catherine Oborne said: 'This is a defendant who could have done more to have complied with the notification requirements placed upon him.

'But he did not do nothing and what I would respectfully submit is this is a person who has buried their head in the sand and has learned a very sharp and significant lesson as a result of it.'

She told the court her client had expressed a desire to 'live a normal life and get back in society'.

She added: 'He was trying to do a decent job as a refuse collector. That job did give him pride and dignity.

'He was described as one of the best workers for Serco and they were considering offering him a full-time position rather than as agency staff.'

On the risk of allowing a terror offender to drive a large vehicle, Ms Oborne added: 'Of course there is a plain and obvious concern that the police would no doubt have about use of HGV lorries but there was no specific risk in respect or this defendant himself.

'He was a defendant who had been released into the community for nine years and although convicted of other offences, he has not been convicted of any further terrorism offences or and further breach.'

The court heard Rowe did not want to live on benefits and had engaged with a painting and decorating course, and a university degree in international development and NGO management.

Prosecutor Peter Ratliff said: 'This defendant lost his job as a consequence of these proceedings.'

Rowe was the first Briton to be jailed following the 7/7 bombings, when he was sentenced for terror offences at the Old Bailey in September 2005.

In October 2003, Rowe was arrested at the Channel Tunnel after travelling from Germany.

Officers found socks bearing traces of high explosive residue hidden in his luggage, believed to have been used for cleaning mortars.

Raids on his homes uncovered his handwritten guide to firing battlefield weapons, a code sheet and videos of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden. 

Rowe, dubbed a 'Mujahideen warrior' at his original trial, was convicted of two charges of possession of an article for terrorist purposes.

Sentencing Rowe to 15 years jail in 2005, Mr Justice Fulford said: 'The contents of the substitution code are chilling in the extreme. 

'It refers to airports, airline crews, explosives, firearms, army bases and three targets. In the post 9/11 world it requires no imagination to understand what would have been within your contemplation and what would have been your purpose.

'I have no doubt that whatever terrorist purposes you and unknown others were contemplating, its fulfilment was relatively imminent.'

Rowe had travelled to Bosnia at the height of the civil war where he was trained in firing Russian made mortars and was taught how to create codes so he could secretly communicate with fellow plotters about weapons, explosives and targets.

On his return to the UK, Rowe spent two months in hospital after suffering serious leg injuries in a blast and claimed thousands of pounds in invalidity benefits because of his wounds.

He admitted two counts of benefits fraud and three counts of fraud by false representation back in 2019. 

Prosecutor Misba Majid told Westminster Magistrates' Court in March of that year that Rowe received job seeker's allowance between April 2013 and April 2017.

'The defendant, from some time in 2016, in December 2016, was in fact working and receiving money for the work he was carrying out.'

She said Rowe began to claim employment support between 21 June 2017 and 5 December 2017

She added: 'The defendant was also seeking various other benefits, those being housing benefits and reductions in council tax.'

Ms Majid told how in total, Rowe was over paid £5,030 by the Department for Work and Pensions. 

Ms Majid continued: 'There are three fraud by false representation matters. The defendant has actually obtained insurance for a car and on each occasion he has been asked by the insurance company whether he had any convictions.

'The defendant does in fact have a number of previous convictions.'

Ms Majid said Rowe has seven previous convictions for 16 offences, the most recent being for battery in 2013. 

Franck Magennis, defending, said: 'The plain fact of this is that it is true that my client was convicted of serious crimes in 2005 but the unfortunate consequence of that is that it is very difficult for him in the jobs market.

In October 2003, Rowe was arrested at the Channel Tunnel as he travelled back from Europe 

'It was over a decade ago. Plainly this is a man navigating the jobs market, people withdraw job offers when they see his convictions.

'The defendant feels shame when having to declare his previous convictions.'

Mr Magennis said Rowe carried out the three car insurance scams because he was concerned he would otherwise be unable to cover his vehicle.

Turning to the benefits scam, he said: 'Whilst it is true that he benefited to the sum of £5,000, he has been paying back that amount at a rate that is as speedy as possible.'

Before converting to Islam in 1990, Rowe was a drug dealer and petty criminal.

He later became a regular worshipper at Regent's Park and Ladbroke Grove mosques.

After returning from the Balkan conflict, Rowe spent seven years visiting Islamist hotspots around the globe, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco and Malaysia.

He vandalised or threw away his UK passport three times to get rid of incriminating visa stamps.

Rowe had claimed he just wanted to help beleaguered Muslim communities in Chechnya defend themselves.