The lawyers of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri have claimed that he previously worked as a strip club owner and had been tasked by MI5 to keep the streets of London safe, during his trial for terrorism in the US.
Abu Hamza faces 11 charges of terrorism-related crimes, but he professes his innocence and denies having ever helped al-Qaeda or setting up a Jihadist training camp in the US state of Oregon.
The Egyptian-born cleric also denied assisting in the 1998 kidnapping of western tourists in Yemen, where four hostages died during a botched rescue attempt.
Instead, the lawyers representing Abu Hamza say that his involvement in the kidnapping was merely to act as a mediator and they claim to have documents from Scotland Yard supporting this claim. However, the judge has ruled this evidence inadmissible.
Abu Hamza was extradited to the US to face a terrorism trial without a jury 18 months ago, after spending eight years in a British prison for inciting murder and racial hatred during his sermons at Finsbury Park mosque in north London.