The first Briton to be prosecuted for fighting against Islamic State has been jailed for four years after he was found guilty of terrorism offences.

Aidan James, 28, from Formby, Merseyside, was accused of fuelling the violence in Syria when he had no link to the country and no previous military experience.

In October, he broke down in tears as he was found guilty of training with the banned Kurdish PKK in Iraq but cleared of training with their Syrian equivalent, the YPG, following a re-trial.

Image: Aidan James spoke publicly about fighting in Syria

James, who has severe mental health issues, had been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and been an in-patient at a psychiatric unit in the immediate run-up to his departure to Syria.

He went on a training course in North Wales, bought body armour and equipment and then travelled out to Iraq from Manchester Airport, where he trained with the banned PKK.


He told followers on Facebook about his decision, saying it was the right thing to do.

James then crossed into Syria and fought and killed on the front line with the YPG, which was supported by Western forces, before US President Donald Trump withdrew backing earlier this month.

After spending four months in Syria and Iraq, James listed his experiences in a diary which included: "Chilled with a donkey. Shot at our commander. Witnessed torture. Met American special forces. Liberated 2 villages. Seen A-10 airstrikes. Seen many body's [sic]. Had whiskey, hash and ketamine."

Prosecutors put him through court, on the basis that he was training with Kurdish militia and supporting the Kurdish nationalist cause - even though the second group he was with was fighting against IS and backed by the RAF and UK special forces.

Mr Justice Edis criticised the decision by the Attorney General to pursue the prosecution for fighting with the YPG, saying he was "uneasy about the prosecution of a man who is able to say that at least some of the acts of terrorism for which he was preparing or trained were carried out with the support of the RAF".

Image: The 28-year-old allegedly wrote in a diary that he had an 'amazing time' fighting against IS

James had been given mixed messages by police who arrested him, questioned him and then returned his passport.

He told the police he was joining the "last line of defence" against "scum bags coming over here and hurting us" and nothing would stop him reaching Syria.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Edis highlighted video evidence of James learning to fire an AK47 rifle and detailed descriptions of his time with the PKK in his journal.

He jailed James for 12 months for the terror training offence and a further three years for separate offences of cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis, to run consecutively.

James, who was repeatedly turned down by British armed forces due to his mental health, admitted the charges after drugs were seized in a search of his mother's home when he posted his intention to travel on Facebook in April 2017.

Mark Heywood QC told the jury at the Old Bailey that a "distinct feature" of the Syrian conflict, that had "fuelled the violence", was the involvement of "many individuals on all sides who have no prior link or association with the land or its people".

Image: James is captured by CCTV going through security gates at Manchester airport

James had "picked his cause" and it was the cause of "just one of the many groups of people that inhabit that part of the world and would like it to be their own," he added.

James planned, trained and equipped himself in Britain in an "amateurish" way, to go to Syria for the "specific purpose of taking part in the violence".

"The law does not permit engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorism or attendance at terrorist training places, anywhere in the world," he added.

But Andy Hall QC, defending, said it was "on any view a quite extraordinary case" that was "contrived, artificial, tenuous, and entirely unfair".

"You may think, this is not British justice," he told the jury.

"There may be all sorts of reasons why it is inadvisable for civilian volunteers to travel overseas to fight in foreign wars or battles, even for the best of causes, and with the best of intentions," he added.