The most vilified Muslim cleric in Britain was put on trial last week, accused of preaching a gospel of race-hate and jihad among his followers in the nation.
Instead of his usual role as a speaker, Abu Hamza al-Masri has listened to three days of testimony that portrays him as an evil bigot with a twisted view of Islam, spreading a creed of violence and intolerance, especially of Jews, for whom he believed Hitler was sent into the world to destroy.
Hamza faces 15 charges of incitement to murder and whipping up racial tensions in a case at the heart of which lies the question of freedom of speech and its abuse.
When his home was raided, detectives also found a 10-volume 'blueprint for terrorism', which listed London's Big Ben, Paris' Eiffel Tower and New York's Statue of Liberty as potential targets for attack, as well as football stadiums, airports and nuclear power stations to maximise loss of life.
Chapters of the manual are dedicated to Osama bin Laden, while others give step-by-step guides on how to manufacture explosive devices.
Each day the one-eyed former Imam has sat in court at London's Old Bailey, the hooks usually attached to his arms missing, watching as videos of his sermons are played to the jury of seven men and five women. Hamza lost an eye and both hands fighting the Russians in Afghanistan.
