- Yassin Salhi, 35, is accused of beheading his boss in France last week
- He is believed to have been radicalised by hate cleric Frederic Jean Salvi
- While he grew up in France, Salvi now lives and works in Leicester
- Police spoke to him about Salhi's attack, but he denied knowing about it
Frederic Jean Salvi (pictured), the man accused of radicalising beheading suspect Yassin Salhi lives and works in Leicester, it has been revealed
The French ISIS fanatic accused of beheading his boss before placing his head on a spike was radicalised by a man living in Britain, it has emerged.
Frederic Jean Salvi, who is also known as 'Ali' and is believed to be linked to terror attacks in Paris and Indonesia, is currently working and living in Leicester, it has been reported.
Last week Salvi was accused of helping to radicalise Yassin Salhi, 35, who allegedly murdered his boss Herve Cornara before attempting to drive his van into a gas factory in Lyon.
According to the Daily Mirror, Salvi was not born a Muslim, but converted inside jail while serving time for drug trafficking in the early 2000s.
After his release in 2004 he began attending a mosque in Pontarlier, France, which was where Salhi also went to pray.
Salvi was kicked out of the mosque shortly afterwards for allegedly attempting to radicalise a group of eight men, one of whom was attacker Salhi.
He then disappeared, before emerging in Indonesia in 2010 where he was wanted in connection with a car full of explosives found in the capital Jakarta. The bomb failed to detonate, and Salvi again vanished.
French security officials also suspected him of bombing the Indonesian Embassy in Paris in 2012, but he was never arrested.
Speaking outside his semi-detached home in Leicester yesterday, where he is believed to live with his wife and five children, Salvi said: 'The British authorities know where I am and have no problem with it.
'They’ve been to see me a few times. It’s always the same two officers – I think they are Special Branch.
'They came this week to ask if I knew anything about what happened in Lyon. I told them no.'
He later said: 'I don't want to talk to the media. Everything I have to say has already been said. I don't have time for all of this.'
He added that he condemns the killing of Mr Cornara, and disputed the accusation that he is still wanted in connection with the Indonesia bombing.
Paul Wilson, who lives nearby to Salvi, said: 'They have a couple of cars, one has a French number plate. It's a people carrier type with tinted windows at the back.
'They have four or five young kids. They moved here a few months ago and have never been any trouble.'
Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'He stands out because he's very tall, a good six foot or more. Some people on the street call him the 'tall fella'.
'You don't see them walking much, they're mostly in their cars. I did see him walk to a table top sale at the community centre a while back. He came back with books and toys for the kids.'
A third neighbour said: 'The wife always wears a full niqab, head to toe, but you see lots of Muslim families round here in that kind of dress so you can't say they really stand out.'
A woman living on the street said: 'We've read about him in the newspapers but we're not worried because the police seem to know all about him.'
A man leaving the nearby Masjid-E-Usmani Islamic community centre said: 'I've never seen him at our mosque. He wouldn't fit in because no one here is radical. We would condemn any form of violence done in the name of a religion. Every one here is against terrorism.'
Meanwhile, French police announced that Salhi has confessed to killing Mr Cornara because of 'personal difficulties' in his life.
His confession comes after it emerged the married father-of-three sent a macabre selfie of him posing with the severed head of his boss to a WhatsApp number in Canada.
Investigators said it was not possible to fix the location of Salhi's contact, but it has been reported the recipient was in Syria.
Salhi is currently being held in custody, and prosecutors say they are preparing to mount terrorism charges against him.
Cornara's head was found pinned to the gates at the American-owned Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier near Lyon, surrounded by two Islamist flags, on Friday morning.
A knife and a fake pistol were also discovered nearby.
He had been strangled before he was decapitated.
Salhi told investigators he killed Cornara in a car park and took a picture of him posing with the severed head.
He then drove his van at high speed into warehouse packed with inflammable chemicals where he attempted to cause an explosion.
He was overpowered by a firefighter as he was trying to prise open a bottle of acetone in an apparent suicidal bid to destroy the factory.
No comments:
Post a Comment