A BLACKBURN man who called for the assassinations of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair was a ‘lonely young man’ who ‘wallowed’ in extremist material, a court heard today.

Ishaq Kanmi, 23, of Cromwell Street, Audley, posted a message on a Jihadi website which declared the two former Prime Ministers would be targeted by ‘martyr-dom seekers’ if his demands were not met.

Pretending to be Umar Rabie – the head of ‘al Qaida in Britain’ – he issued a two-month deadline in January 2008 calling for the with-drawal of British troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, together with the release of all Muslim captives from Belmarsh Prison, London.

Manchester Crown Court was today told no such organisation was thought to exist and there was no evidence Kanmi had any association with the hierarchy of al Qaida.

He composed most of his messages from a public computer at Blackburn Central Library.

In mitigation, ahead of sentencing of Kanmi tomorrow, Joel Bennathan QC said his client had a ‘miserable childhood’ in which he was constantly bullied at school and had no friends.

At his primary school in Blackburn he was the only boy who wore traditional Muslim clothing.

Mr Bennathan said his understanding of English was poor as his education was exclusively formed by his religious studies, in which he was able to memorise the Koran in Arabic by the time he was 15.

On leaving school, Kanmi also had health problems with his knees and his hearing.

It was then he drifted into the library where he was told how to use a computer and went on to use it at great length.

Mr Bennathan said: “Once he was there endlessly using the computers, he wallowed in the sort of Jihadi material he found.”

He said his ‘lonely’ client ‘who provoked ridicule’ could hardly be compared to nationally-known figures, such as clerics Abu Hamza and Abdullah el-Faisal who were convicted and jailed for urging their followers to murder others.

In May, Kanmi pleaded guilty to professing to belong to al Qaida and inviting support for the terror group.

He also admitted collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a terrorist, and three counts of disseminating terrorist publications.

Kanmi denied two counts of soliciting to murder Mr Brown and Mr Blair, which were allowed to lie on file.