Convicted terrorist Kristen Brekke sent back to jail after hiding information from authorities

Convicted terrorist, Kristen Brekke, admitted to four breaches of his notification requirement. Credit: South Wales Police

A convicted terrorist from south Wales has been sent back to jail after keeping information from authorities.

Kristen Brekke, 26, was jailed for helping a teenage jihadi join so-called Islamic State fighters in Syria in 2014.

In 2016, Muslim convert Brekke was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for preparing terrorist acts. He was released in September 2017 and made subject to a notification requirement.

He admitted to four breaches of that requirement in 2021 and 2022. These include failing to tell police about two cars he was using, a Binance account he opened, as well as a pre-paid card account provided by Pockit.

On Tuesday (August 9), Judge Angela Rafferty sentenced Brekke to nine months in jail with a further year on extended licence.

Aseel Muthana was just 17 years old when he left Cardiff to join IS militants in Syria in 2014.

She added that a probation report found Brekke “strongly resented” the notification requirement placed on him and had tried to justify and minimise his behaviour.

Judge Rafferty acknowledged he made efforts to “improve” his life and complied with the order “until it became too difficult to do so and then made the decision to avoid the rigours of the requires”.

'Come join us at Asda Hill, this is the fake jihad life'

She explained: “These requirements were designed to monitor you to keep the public safe. It cannot be that terrorist offenders can have unmonitored access to financial accounts and vehicles. It is accepted no harm was caused.

“However, I do not accept the financial offences were close to reasonable excuse or technical breaches.”

Brekke was one of three men jailed for helping the teen follow in his older brother's footsteps.

In February 2016, Kristen Brekke, Adeel Ulhaq and Forhad Rahman were jailed for helping the teen travel to Syria. Credit: South Wales Police

Brekke worked at an ice cream parlour in Cardiff with Aseel Muthana and supplied him with combat clothes.

In mitigation, the court heard Brekke was trying to provide for his family but found it difficult due to his conviction.

Jacob Bindman, representing Brekke, said: “He made a couple of silly decisions over a short period of time and drove his employer on a couple of occasions to his employment.”

He added that no money was transferred to or from the financial accounts.