°®Âþµº

The former Manchester United steward was found guilty of the murder of Jalal Uddin, who died last February after Syeedy and an accomplice bludgeoned the imam with a hammer as he walked home from evening prayers.

Syeedy's accomplice, identified as Mohammed Abdul Kadir, a former John Lewis call-centre worker, is now believed to be in Syria having fled three days after the attack.

The pair are believed to have targeted Uddin in a premeditated attack because he practiced a form of Islamic mysticism called Ruqyah using amulets called Ta'wiz which practitioners believe can have healing properties.

Syeedy and Abdul Kadir, followers of the conservative Salafi strand of Islam, viewed such practice as polytheistic and punishable by death.

Before the deadly attack last February, which took place in a children's playground, Syeedy is said to have taken to mocking Uddin as a magician, calling him Voldemort after the evil wizard of Harry Potter fame, noted The Guardian. 

Speaking after the conclusion of the trial, Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division said that the two offenders believed Mr Uddin was practicing "black magic and, inspired by the teachings of [IS], that the victim deserved to die for that belief. Syeedy and his accomplice stalked Jalal Uddin round the streets before attacking him and leaving him to die".

The trial has alerted British counter-terrorism experts fearful that "homegrown extremists" are increasingly targeting fellow Muslims they perceive as heretics.