Dudley man jailed for pro-Jihad letters in touch with Abu Hamza and killers of Lee Rigby

Unemployed Usman Choudhary also had an image of a man holding up a decapitated head on his mobile phone and de-faced images of the Queen.

But, due to the amount of time the 34-year-old has already spent behind bars, he was set to be freed last night.

Detectives found more than 500 letters sent to and written by Choudhary when they raided his home in the Black Country. The list read like a Who's Who of murderers and hard-line clerics held behind bars in the UK and US – including the killers of Lee Rigby and radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.

Choudary – whose father, Ghulam is the ex-chairman of Dudley Central Mosque – had carefully filed and indexed all the correspondence, along with details of £14,000 of cash gifts sent by him to some of the inmates. It is unclear where the money came from.

Miss Alison Morgan, prosecuting, told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court yesterday that Choudhary from Terry Street, Kates Hill, had an 'obsession' with violent jihad.

"This led to his association with those convicted of very serious terrorist offences," she said.

"He had a prolific correspondence with prisoners. Hundreds of letters and copies were discovered at his home address in December 2013 showing the extent of the correspondence.

"It was either with those convicted of terrorist offences or individuals recently converted to Islam and introduced to Choudhary by others.

"He had close contact with those convicted of the most serious terrorist offences such as the planned bombing of Trans Atlantic airliners and the murderers of Lee Rigby.

"They felt confident in expressing their extreme anti-western views to Mr Choudhary.

"He was offering services and support, sending money, clothes and reading material."

Choudhary had the image of a beheaded man on his mobile phone, the court was told.

Miss Morgan explained: "It must have got onto the phone in June 2013 just a few months before the commission of this offence."

There was also footage praising Osama Bin Laden and Choudhary had de-faced the Queen's head and the crown displayed on stamps on the letters.

There were 75 prisoners on the list of correspondents, 61 of whom were serving time for terrorist offences. They included Michael Abedolajo, given a whole life term for murdering soldier Lee Rigby; infamous preacher Abu Hamza, recently found guilty of supporting terrorism by a court in New York; and Barbar Ahmed, a British computer expert from South London who admitted supporting terrorism through the internet and was sentenced in July to 12-and-a-half years in prison after admitting conspiracy and providing material to support the Taliban.

Dhiren Barot, who is serving 30 years for plotting to blow up the US Stock Exchange, was another 'penpal', as was Roshonara Choudhry – no relation – jailed for life after stabbing Labour MP Stephen Timms.

Mr Daniel Friedman, defending, described the case as being 'at the least end of the spectrum of offending'. Choudhary admitted disseminating a terrorist publication on September 30, 2013, when reckless as to whether this could indirectly encourage acts of terrorism.

He denied two more serious terrorist offences and the judge acquitted him on both of these after the prosecution did not offer enough evidence.

Judge Peter Birts QC told Choudhary: "Your conduct was reprehensible but was reckless rather than intentional.

"I accept that, your brushes with the law apart, you are a person of integrity and well respected within the local community."