Man who entered Manchester mosque with axe also took zip ties and balaclava, court hears

A man accused of entering a mosque in Manchester with an axe, a hammer and a knife also allegedly took in zip ties and a balaclava, a court has heard.Darren Connor, 55, appeared on Friday at Manchester magistrates court, where he denied possession of an offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.He was arrested at Manchester-central-mosque" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="36125" data-entity-type="location">Manchester Central Mosque in Rusholme on Tuesday after police were alerted to him and another man entering the building and apparently acting suspiciously.Prosecutor Gareth Hughes said the defendant, a white Briton, attended the mosque during Ramadan prayers, called taraweeh, on Tuesday evening.Hughes told the court a “considerable number of people” were in the Victoria Park mosque at the time.Connor was found to be in possession of an axe, a hammer and a Stanley knife, said the prosecutor, and “in addition” had zip ties and a balaclava.The defendant, wearing a yellow hi-vis jacket and a black and grey checked shirt, pleaded not guilty.Judge Hogarth told Connor the nature and circumstances of the charge meant the case must be allocated to the crown court.Connor, of Gorton Road, Stockport, also faced an allegation of possession of cannabis, which he admitted.He was remanded in custody to next appear at Manchester crown court on 3 April, where both matters will be dealt with. No application for bail was made by his solicitor.Earlier, police said the second man who was arrested in connection with the incident will face no further action.Hamad Khan, the chair of the mosque, previously said a man wearing a hi-vis jacket entered the mosque at about 8.30pm on Tuesday when about 1,500 people were saying Ramadan prayers. Khan said the man was ushered into an office and police were called after an axe was spotted in his bag.Manchester-police" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="3930" data-entity-type="organization">Greater Manchester Police previously stated that they had been in contact with the north-west counter-terrorism police but had not declared the event as a possible terrorist incident.Speaking after the incident, John Webster, an assistant chief constable at GMP, said: “This is a time where Muslims come together to observe Ramadan. They should feel safe in their place of worship. We do give places of worship increased attention during this period, as we do with all religious festivals.“We are increasing patrols to offer security and reassurance to our Muslim community. Our officers will be on 12-hour shifts to be able to do this, certainly in the short term.”