A Primark worker accused of plotting a terrorist attack purchased a Samurai sword from a shop that sold sex toys and drugs paraphernalia.

Tahir Aziz, 38, was walking past a shop called Riff Raff in Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent when he spotted the sword in the window and decided to purchase it, a court heard.

Aziz is on trial accused of plotting a knife rampage with Mohibur Rahman, 32, Naweed Ali, 29, and Khobaib Hussain, 25, who called themselves the 'Musketeers' and allegedly shared 'the same radical belief in violent jihad'.

Tahir Aziz (left) and Mohibur Rahman (right) have both denied preparing terrorist acts

Naweed Ali (left) and Khobaib Hussain (right) were previously jailed when they admitted preparation of terror acts, after travelling to Pakistan to attend a terror training camp

Prosecutors say the terror plot involved the samurai sword and a meat cleaver with the word 'Kafir' scratched onto the blade.

Speaking at the Old Bailey today, Aziz said he bought the 'ornamental sword' from a shop which sold 'sex toys, drug paraphernalia' and items for 'dressing up' adding: 'It's a weird shop, they had weird stuff.'

He bought the weapon at the end of 2014 for his 'own protection' and kept it by the passenger seat of his Ford Fiesta.

'I walked past and I saw the display in the window so I went in to inquire about it and when he said £20, I said that'll do,' he said.

'I was working in some rough neighbourhoods later at night, especially at weekends, where they have high crime rates and anti-social behaviour and where people like to congregate and drink,' he explained.

'I was intimidated on a few occasions, the majority of times it was racial abuse, when I felt vulnerable in certain circumstances.

This meat cleaver with 'KAFIR' (infidel), scratched onto the blade was found in 29-year-old Naweed Ali's black Seat Leon car

Aziz purchased a Samurai sword from Rif Raf in Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent 'for protection'

'Going to someone's address and not being able to deliver because it was very intimidating.

'There have been occasion when I've had glass bottles thrown at me and beers cans.'

Aziz had been working part-time at Primark for ten years but had also been working at a series of takeaways as a delivery driver in the evenings.

He said: 'I bought it as a deterrent, to scare people, there was no intention of using it.'

Asked what he thought about the London Bridge and Westminster attacks, which both involved knives, he told the jury: 'They are sick psychopaths, only somebody who is sick in the head would go out of their way to attack innocent people.'

Aziz said he had been drinking heavily and his marriage to an Irish woman was falling apart when he turned to Islam in early 2014.

'I had a drinking problem, I used to drink a lot of alcohol,' he said. 'When the kids weren't around I used to sit upstairs in my bedroom and drink.

'I found my father was ill. I thought he was going to die. I thought how can I even pray at your funeral. That was it, I dropped everything.'

Asked if he was a 'good Muslim', Aziz said, 'I tend to oversleep but I did my best.'

He had two children but his wife asked him to move out after the marriage failed and he was living with his mother, he said.

His home was raided on January 16 last year after an allegation was made that he possessed indecent images but no material was found.

However, the court heard that police found Aziz was sharing extremist material with his friend and co-accused Mohibur Rahman.

Aziz was downloading jihadi chants known as nasheeds from YouTube and told the court: 'Jihadi nasheeds used to be one of my favourite nasheeds.

'Before I started to practice my weakness was music, I used to listen to a lot of music.

'I used to be into West Coast rappers, jihadi ones were no different to me listening to 2pac, Snoop Doggy Dog, Dre and things.

'It was another way of me listening to music without committing sin, it's catchy.'

Bill Emlyn Jones, prosecuting, accused Aziz of comparing jihadi videos with 'a Snoop Doggy Dog video of him bouncing in cars with girls clad in bikinis.'

He played one of the chants, which had images of men fighting and bomb explosions, to the words: 'Bomb the kuffar [non-believers], claim your victory, brothers rise up, let's go for jihad.'

The group was arrested after undercover police and MI5 agents found a bag stuffed with weapons including a partially constructed pipe bomb and an imitation gun in the car

Rahman, wrote in one message to Aziz: 'Bruv I know you wana get arrested and go jail but it seems like you're looking for a Co-D [co-defendant] and by the looks of it I'm going to end up being that fish in the bowl.

'Sorry akhi won't send you no more like that,' Aziz promised.

But when Rahman complained that other Muslims came up with 'all the tired excuses in the world' to avoid jihad, Aziz replied: 'I support all those that fight fisabilillah [in the cause of Allah] regardless of what group they are in. They are better than me as they are fulfilling there [sic] obligation and i am getting left behind.'

The Old Bailey previously heard all four men were arrested after a stash of weapons, ammunition, and a half-made pipe bomb were found in Ali's black Seat Leon car in Birmingham following a 'covert technical operation' on August 26 last year.

They deny all charges and claim evidence has been planted by MI5 agents to frame them.

Ali and Hussain, both of Sparkhill, Birmingham, Rahman and Aziz, both of Stoke, each deny a single charge of preparing for acts of terrorism between 25 May and 27 August last year under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

The trial continues.