A HOARD of extremist Islamic material was found at the Newcastle home of a doctor accused of plotting a wave of car bombings across Britain, a court heard this afternoon.

Police found a handwritten poem pledging allegiance to Osama bin Laden in one bedroom at the house of Mohammed Asha, who lived in Sunningdale Grove, Chesterton, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

Asha, aged 28, who worked in the neurology department at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, and Bilal Abdulla, 29, from Paisley, deny conspiring to commit murder and cause explosions in London and Glasgow last June.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC told the court there was evidence that attempts had been made to delete jihadist literature from a laptop.

Among the documents were articles about martyrdom operations and justifying the September 11 attacks, the jury was told.

One image file showed pictures of Bin Laden across a map of the United States with the Arabic caption: "We are coming no matter how long it takes."

Mr Laidlaw said specialist programmes had been downloaded on to the computer to conceal its identity when connected to the internet.

A compact disc was also found containing a collection of extremist video clips including beheadings and attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Laidlaw said Asha was followed by undercover officers in the hours before he was arrested on the M6 on June 30 at 9pm.

He said Asha was watched as he dumped documents, books and computer discs at two supermarkets near his home.

The court was told black bin liners containing partially-burned documents, including links to extremist websites, were found in one wheelie bin.

Several minutes later, Asha was watched as he placed Arabic texts and smashed computer CDs into a recycling bank.

Mr Laidlaw said Asha was arrested by police when they stopped his white Mazda car.

He said: "As he was dressed in a forensic suit, one of those white suits to retain his clothing, as an officer took care not to catch his beard in the zip, the defendant was heard to say this: 'That is what this is about. It is my beard. Anyway, I didn't see your identification'."

The case continues.