Old Bailey jails IS fighter over cannabis and cocaine; cannabis term is one day
Aidan James, 29, of Formby, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on 7 November 2019 to four years in total: three years for cocaine possession with intent to supply, which included a concurrent one-day term for possessing cannabis, plus 12 months for a terrorism offence. Police had found the drugs at his home in April 2017.
🇬🇧 Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey), London · United Kingdom
Aidan James, 29, of Formby, Merseyside, was jailed for a terrorism offence and
drug charges at the Old Bailey in London on 7 November 2019.[1]He had
admitted possessing cannabis at an earlier hearing at Liverpool Crown Court,
along with possession of cocaine with intent to supply.[1]The judge jailed
James for three years for the drug charges and added a consecutive 12-month
sentence for the terrorism offence, making four years in total.[2]
James had repeatedly been turned down for recruitment into the British armed
forces on mental health grounds.[3]The police attended James’s home in April
2017 over concerns about his stated intention to travel to the Middle East and
found drugs there.[1]He admitted possessing cannabis, a Class B drug.[4]The cocaine and cannabis offences were both dated 28 April 2017.[4]He was
arrested on his return to Liverpool airport in February 2018 and charged with
terror offences the following day.[1]
James was found guilty at a retrial of attending a training camp in Iraq where
the banned PKK was present, and was cleared of attending a YPG training camp in
Syria.[1]
The court heard that James had spent time in a mental health facility before he
flew to Iraq in August 2017.[1]James is described as the first Briton who
fought against Islamic State to stand trial for such offences.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Agency
Crown Prosecution Service
Agency type
Prosecutor, Court
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis
Setting
Home
Charge
possession of cannabis (Class B), alongside possession of cocaine with intent to supply
Case stage
Sentenced
Sentence
Prison
Region
London
Sources
BBC Newsbbc.comBritish man Aidan James who fought against IS jailed
Metrometro.co.ukBrit who fought Isis in Iraq and Syria jailed for four years on terror offences
No weight or quantity was published for the cannabis James possessed, so no kilograms are recorded.
The BBC and other outlets describe a single three-year term for the two drug offences and do not mention the separate one-day cannabis sentence recorded in the court's remarks.
The value of the drugs and cash forfeited was not published.
The drugs were committed on 28 April 2017 but sentenced only on 7 November 2019 alongside the terrorism offence.
This is a landmark terrorism case; the report concerns only the cannabis possession charge and the sentence for it.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: The three-year drug term was for the cocaine offence; the judge imposed a concurrent one-day sentence for possessing cannabis and ordered the drugs and cash seized to be forfeited.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: The judge described James as a street-level dealer with a significant role in a small-scale operation dealing in cocaine.
Left out prison, as its quotation was not found in Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.
Callum Roper, 22, of Holton Road, Barry, was jailed for 30 months at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting offences involving the supply of cannabis and magic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between 3 December 2025 and 14 September 2026 and had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Bolton Crown Court sentenced seven members of three linked drug gangs that trafficked cocaine and cannabis between Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales. Five men received prison sentences of up to eleven and a half years, while two couriers received community orders and two leaders await later sentencing.
Daniel Thompson, 36, was found with 8,223.6 grams of cannabis resin, valued at up to £35,950, when officers searched a house on Moss Side Lane in Rixton in July 2023. Chester Crown Court gave him a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work after he admitted possessing the resin with intent to supply and possessing cocaine.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 8.2236 kgPrison 9 months suspended for 12 months
Bradford Crown Court jailed Alfie Leahy, 21, for five years and Connor Broadbent, 26, for three years and four months over drugs found when police raided two homes in the Holmewood area at dawn on 17 July 2026. Cannabis was seized at a Grayswood Crescent address and cocaine, cash and jewellery at Dawson Street; police put the total street value of the drugs at more than £22,000.
Charged 2Prison 5 years (Leahy); 3 years and 4 months (Broadbent)
