Terror plot accused 'hero worshipped' Paris attack mastermind

JURY IS TOLD HE TALKED OF HIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA 'WITH PRIDE AND REVERENCE'

- By KIM PILLING, PA & JOHN SCHEERHOUT

A MAN accused of plotting a gun atrocity on a mass gathering of Jews "hero-worshipped" the mastermind of the 2015 Paris terror attacks, a court has heard.

Walid Saadaoui, 38 and Amar Hussein, 52, are alleged to have plotted to cause "untold harm" and kill as many Jewish people as they could in the northwest of England.

Saadaoui had access to "fierce weapons", including assault rifles which were capable of firing several hundred rounds of ammunition per minute, Preston Crown Court heard, and were the type of firearms used across Paris when 130 people were killed and hundreds more were injured.

Continuing his opening of the prosecution case yesterday, Harpreet Sandhu KC told jurors: "Abdelhamid Abaaoud's actions, which led to those deaths and injuries were a source of inspiration for Walid Saadaoui.

"He wanted to replicate what Abaaoud had done.

"Walid Saadaoui hero-worshipped that terrorist."