Crowthorne and Sandhurst

Alleged race hate cleric Abu Hamza yesterday revealed he kept plans of the Royal military academy Sandhurst, which he admitted would be "very crucial to any terrorist".

Hamza's trial at the Old Bailey was told he was employed at Sandhurst immediately after gaining an engineering degree in 1989, and took on responsibility for maintaining the fence and a variety of buildings.

Giving evidence at the start of his defence case, Hamza said he had kept drawings of the academy after leaving the job two years later.

"It would be very crucial to any terrorist," he told jurors.

The cleric claimed police had not confiscated the diagrams despite finding them in his house during raids in 1999 and 2004.

Hamza, from west London, faces nine charges under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 alleging that he solicited others at public meetings to murder Jews and other non-Muslims.

He also faces four charges under the Public Order Act 1986 of "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up racial hatred".

He denies the charges.

Scotsman ~ Sandhurst