An alleged loyalist paramilitary suspect found with a balaclava at his girlfriend's home was planning to go to a fancy dress party as Osama Bin Laden, a court heard today.
Mr Neil Findlay had been hoarding white sheets, sandals, balaclavas and was hunting for several long beards so that he and his friends could dress as Islamic terrorists at a surprise party for his mother, it was claimed.
Mr Findlay's girlfriend, Ms Lynne Beveridge, told the High Court, sitting in Kilmarnock, Scotland that they had been organising the surprise to celebrate an anniversary.
Asked why Mr Findlay would be storing these items, she replied: "It had something to do with Osama Bin Laden."
Ms Beveridge went onto explain that they had both gone to a fancy dress hire shop in Ayr, South Ayrshire, in order to hire full length beards but were told they could only hire them as part of a costume.
She went on: "He had white sheets, sandals, balaclavas and things like that. He did go into the shop to ask for the beards.
"I took that it was for more than one person, including his friend Daniel Kerr and my brother Ian."
Asked by Advocate Depute Mr Alan Mackenzie why Mr Findlay would want a balaclava to dress as Osama Bin Laden, Ms Beveridge said: "That is what Osama Bin Laden wears."
The court heard from a Strathclyde Police scene examiner that balaclavas and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) armband were recovered from 11 Dukes Terrace, Ayr, when officers raided the flat.
Mr Findlay is accused, along with Mr James McKenzie and Mr Eric Hamilton, of being linked to outlawed loyalist paramilitary groups the UDA and its spin off the Ulster Freedom Fighters.
It also alleges that the three accused were storing explosives, incendiary devices and other materials linked to terrorism at seven addresses in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Ayr and Stewarton, East Ayrshire.
When officers raided the houses on July 30th, 2003, they also discovered electrical igniters, pipes, fireworks containing gunpowder and pyrotechnic devices known as rock breakers.
Mr McKenzie (36) of Crammond Way, Irvine, Mr Findlay (33) of Duke Terrace, Ayr, and Hamilton (19) of Lothian Road, Stewarton, were jointly charged with breaching Section 57 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
PA