the times | Friday April 8 2022 5
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The killer of Sir David Amess said
yesterday that police spoke to him over
fears he wanted to join Islamic State
seven years before he attacked the MP,
but he persuaded them that he was not
a threat by nodding along.
Giving evidence in his murder trial,
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, insisted he had no
regrets or shame after killing the 69-
year-old Conservative politician, whom
MP’s killer says he persuaded police to leave him alone in 2014
he described as an “enemy” because of
his support for airstrikes in Syria.
He said that he had stabbed the father
of five during a constituency surgery in
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on October 15
because he had “harmed Muslims”.
Ali, of Kentish Town, north London,
told the Old Bailey of his support for Isis
and said that he had wanted to travel to
Syria in 2014, when he was 18. He re-
vealed that he was referred to police by
his school that year because it feared hemight do so. Ali said that officers had
asked him about his use of social media
and his feelings towards the British gov-
ernment. They arranged for him to
meet an official from the Home Office.
“We were walking around the Whit-
gift Centre [in Croydon, south London].
He was wearing sunglasses indoors,
saying ‘This is halal’ [permitted in
Islam]. I just knew to nod my head and
say yes and they would leave me alone
afterwards and they did,” he said.“There were supposed to be two meet-
ings but they were happy enough with
the first one and I didn’t hear anything.”
Ali is accused of planning attacks
against other politicians, including the
cabinet minister Michael Gove. He
denies murder and preparing acts of
terrorism.
He said that he had tried to find a way
to travel to Syria and other Isis-held
territory between 2015 and 2017 “to
fight, to help in any capacity I could”.He said he “deeply” regretted not join-
ing Isis in Syria but had been persuaded
against going to Turkey by his family.
Tom Little QC, for the prosecution,
asked Ali if he was “utterly shameless”.
“I wouldn’t use the word shameless
but I don’t feel any shame,” Ali said.
“You regret nothing?” Little asked.
“Nothing,” Ali replied. “If I thought
there was something wrong, I wouldn’t
have done it.”
The trial continues.Neil Johnston, Duncan Gardham
A senior British oil executive and his
14-year-old son are feared dead after
being abandoned nine miles off the
Malaysian coast by a dive boat captain
who later tested positive for drugs.
Adrian Chesters, 46, an engineer
with Shell, was scuba diving with his
son Nathen near the remote Pulau
Tokong Sanggol island when their skip-
per, who has since been arrested, head-
ed back to port alone on Wednesday.
Their instructor, Kristine Grodem, a
35-year-old Norwegian, was rescued
yesterday after drifting 30 miles from
the dive site.
She told officials how the group,
which also included a French teenager,
Alexia Molina, found themselves
stranded after their boat vanished dur-
ing a 40-minute underwater training
exercise to help them obtain advanced
diving certificates.
The captain was arrested after failing
moved his family to Malaysia last year
from Texas after working as the senior
engineer responsible for designing Ap-
pomattox, Shell’s 175,000 barrel-a-day
rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
He had previously served as general
manager for the oil company’s wells
technology division.
The area where the divers dis-
appeared is popular with visitors, with
resorts dotted along the coast and on
nearby islands.First a high court judge was told that Sir
Frederick Barclay, owner of The Daily
Telegraph, had been “evicted” from his
home. Now he has heard that the reclu-
sive tycoon’s former wife cannot to pay
her legal bills in a fight over their
divorce settlement.
Sir Jonathan Cohen is overseeing the
latest round of the dispute between
Barclay, 87, and Hiroko Lady Barclay,- She has claimed that he breached
orders to hand over money after the
breakdown a year ago of their 34-year
marriage. She has also accused him of
being in contempt of court, previously
asking the judge to jail him. The busi-
nessman’s lawyers say he will fight this.
Earlier the judge ruled that Barclay
should hand his ex-wife £100 million
but her lawyers said yesterday that the
money has not been paid. “Not a penny
has been paid towards the £100 million
Ex cannot
pay legal
bills, Barclay
judge hears
Jonathan Ames Legal EditorEPA; APSir Frederick Barclay and Lady Barclay
returned to court in payment disputeFather and son on diving trip left
stranded by ‘drug-taking’ captain
Jacob Dirnhuber a methamphetamine test at a police
station in Mersing, a coastal town on
the southeastern tip of the Malay
Peninsula.
“He tested positive for methamphet-
amine use when we conducted a urine
test,” said Datuk Kamarul Zaman Ma-
mat, the police chief.
“The forensics team will arrive to
conduct the investigation. We will also
investigate if there is any issue of negli-
gence.”
Nurul Hizam Zakaria, the leader of
the search team, added that Grodem
was found by a tug boat, “floating and
fully equipped” with her diving gear.
District police chief Cyril Edward
Nuing said according to Grodem’s
account, “the three others managed to
surface”.
The search area has been increased
to cover a radius of 123 miles, involving
30 divers, 18 vessels and 90 other offi-
cials.
Chesters, who was born in Sheffield,
The Malaysian Maritime Enforce-
ment Agency (MMEA) said the diving
group was reported missing at about
2.35pm yesterday near Pulau Tokong
Sanggol, an island ten miles from Mers-
ing in southern Johor state.
The alarm was raised after the group
did not surface about an hour into the
dive. Grodem is thought likely to have
become separated from the group due
to rough water conditions.
Malaysia only opened its borders to
foreign tourists last week after a two-
year pandemic ban. The immigration
department said more than 55,000 for-
eigners had entered the country in the
first four days since the reopening.
Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz
Ghazi, a politician in Johor, said: “To
the families who are affected by trage-
dy, we are doing whatever we can to
find them, and will do our best to find
them as soon as possible.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said it is
in contact with Malaysian authorities.order,” Stewart Leech QC said, adding:
“My client has not been able to pay a
penny towards our costs.” Her legal
team also told the court that Barclay
had “unilaterally halved” a main-
tenance payment of £60,000 for her.
Leech said £400,000 had been paid
to cover Barclay’s legal costs and that it
was understood that the businessman
— who with his late twin brother Sir
David Barclay once owned the Ritz
Hotel in London — is being financially
supported by his nephews.
Earlier in the hearing, Charles How-
ard QC, representing the businessman,
acknowledged that certain sums had
not been paid, but he said: “Whether
he’s at fault remains to be decided.” The
barrister added that his client had said
“he’s got no money and his bank state-
ments... show that. He’s been evicted
from his home”.
Sir David died last year, aged 86, and
the family’s interests include the Tele-
graph Group, bought for £665 million.
The twins were notoriously private
and denied being tax exiles. In the 2020
Sunday Times Rich List, the Barclay
family was reported to have a £7 billion
fortune and their business interests
were said to be owned via a network of
offshore companies in Jersey, Bermuda
and the British Virgin Islands.
At an earlier hearing, Cohen criti-
cised Barclay for having behaved in a
“reprehensible” manner during the
legal dispute with his former wife.Kristine Grodem, 35,
was found after
drifting 30 miles.
Rescuers, above, are
looking for Adrian
and Nathen Chesters
and a French girlMALAYSIAINDONESIA
100 milesKuala
LumpurSingaporeMersingDivers missing off
Pulau Tokong Sanggol