Hooky buys a house from jail

HATE preacher Abu Hamza has made a mockery of Labour’s war on terror — by buying a house from jail.
Hook-handed Hamza paid £220,000 CASH for the four-bedroom semi despite having his assets frozen by the Government.
He was on LEGAL AID awaiting trial when he bought the property — and has since raked in up to £270 a week by renting it out.
The revelation is a major embarrassment to Gordon Brown who froze Hamza’s finances in April 2002 — long before his arrest — under Labour’s tough anti-terror laws.
Only two days ago, the Chancellor boasted he had cut off the cash flow to terrorists.
But Muslim cleric Hamza, 48, was able to exploit a loophole to buy the house in Greenford, North West London, while on remand. Hamza’s property dealing was only rumbled after a probe by the Legal Services Commission into the £680 a week his family get in benefits.
They live in a five-bedroom council property in Shepherds Bush, West London, worth £600,000. A paper trail from the sale of a flat led investigators to the house which Hamza bought in October 2004 — four months after his arrest.
The sale was made without a mortgage just a month after he sold the apartment in Hammersmith for £228,000.
The house is registered in the name of Ola Kamel Mostafa, believed to be a relative of Hamza in Egypt. Hamza’s real name is Mostafa Kamel Mostafa.
Until last week the house was being rented out to Polish labourers and is now being offered to let at £270-a-week.
The father of seven was jailed for seven years in February for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.
Taxpayers’ footed his £250,000 legal bill for the month-long Old Bailey trial.
Investigators from the Legal Services Commission were last night poised to seize the house to recoup Hamza’s legal aid. A legal order has been slapped on the property banning its sale.
Last night furious Tories claimed Hamza had made a fool of Mr Brown. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: "This raises serious questions about the Government’s promise to clamp down on the financing of terror. In 2002, Gordon Brown announced he was freezing the assets of Abu Hamza. Only this week he told us he was being tough on terrorist financing.
"How can he reconcile his claim to be opening a new front on terrorism when the action he took four years ago has had no impact."
But a senior Whitehall source said: "The idea that we were sleeping on the watch is rubbish. We knew all about this property and had been discussing it with the police about seven or eight months ago.
"Before he was charged and convicted, his financial assets were frozen. Those powers have now been extended to allow us to freeze fixed assets including property. The Legal Services Commission can recover the costs of legal aid payments."
Hamza’s finances have been looked into before. Each week before his arrest, he claimed an £80 incapacity allowance, £80 in mobility benefit, £80 housing benefit, £55 income support and £40 disability allowance.
The US government is seeking Hamza’s extradition. The hearing was adjourned yesterday for a month.

ONCE again hook-handed Abu Hamza has made a fool of this country.While in prison awaiting trial for incitement to murder he bought a £220,000 house — for cash.That’s an embarrassment for Chancellor Gordon Brown — who said he had frozen Hamza’s assets.Clearly Hamza was swimming in illicit money. He claimed £330 a week benefit. He was on legal aid. His family lived in a council house.Hamza once described Britain as the “inside of a toilet”.But the worst smell in town was the puny efforts of politicians, police and benefits staff to nail this dangerous conman.