Former grammar school boy who disappeared on family holiday admits joining Isil

A former grammar school pupil who left a family holiday in Turkey and joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) nine years ago, has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences.

Shabazz Suleman, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was 19-years-old when he disappeared during a holiday and travelled to Syria to join the extremist group.

Suleman, who was preparing to go to university when he travelled to Syria, claimed he initially volunteered with a relief organisation before being arrested by Turkish security forces.

He was then traded to Isil as part of a prisoner swap to secure the release of Turkish diplomats captured by the terrorist group in Iraq.

Suleman, who is a former pupil of the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe, was arrested at Heathrow airport on September 29 2021 and charged with a string of terror offences.

He had been due to stand trial next month at the Old Bailey but during an appearance at the court on Friday pleaded guilty to preparing acts of terrorism by travelling from the UK to Turkey in order to join IS in Syria in August 2014.

The judge, Mark Lucraft KC ordered a pre-sentence report on the defendant’s dangerousness and adjourned sentencing to May 26. He told Sulmeman: “This morning you have pleaded guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts. You will know a custodial sentence is inevitable.”