Two Islamic State extremists who planned the murder of an imam referred to him as “Voldemort” who was engaging in “black magic”, a public inquiry heard.

Father-of-seven Jalal Uddin, 71, died in a “brutal and ferocious” attack with a hammer in a children’s play area in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on February 18 2016, because his religious practices were deemed sacrilegious by his killers.

An inquiry examining whether intelligence failures contributed to Mr Uddin’s death by failing to spot and stop his extremist killers, sat in public for the first time today.

The hearing, at Liverpool Crown Court, first sat at the start of the month to hear evidence in “closed” sessions, not open to press or public.

Inquiry chairman Judge Thomas Teague KC ruled some evidence must not be made public and heard only in private sessions to prevent harm to the detection and prevention of terrorism and public safety.

Mohammed Kadir, then 24, is believed to have struck the fatal blows with a hammer and had planned the killing with former Manchester United steward Mohammed Syeedy, then 21, who drove Kadir to the scene and helped carry out surveillance on their target.

Kadir fled the UK three days after the killing and is thought to have headed to Syria, while Syeedy was in September 2016 convicted of murdering Mr Uddin and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Syeedy’s trial was told both men were sympathisers of the terrorist group calling itself Islamic State and consumed by hatred of Mr Uddin for his practise of Ruqyah, a form of exorcism, which the terror organisation considered “black magic”.

A third man, Mohammed Syadul Hussain, was convicted in April 2017 of helping Kadir leave the country and jailed for five years.

Opening the hearing, chairman Judge Teague said it was “deeply unfortunate” more than eight years had passed since Mr Uddin’s death and for “compelling legal reasons” it is impossible to hear all the evidence in public.

Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, said Mr Uddin, who first came to the UK from Bangladesh in 2002, was a scholar of the Koran and a very well-regarded member of the community in Rochdale and formerly an imam at the local Jalalia Mosque.

But his practice of Ruqyah, involving using amulets, made him a target for IS supporters, who believed Islam should be practised as in the seventh century.

Mr Beer said: “IS is said to have regarded this practise as black magic. The men who murdered Mr Uddin were supporters and followers of IS.

“The murder was motivated by their hatred of Mr Uddin as a practitioner of Ruquya.”

Mr Beer said in some mobile phone exchanges between the two that Mr Uddin was referred to as Voldemort, a reference to Lord Voldemort, a fictional character in the Harry Potter books.

A previous hearing heard from October 2015, Kadir was assessed and continued to be assessed as a person of high risk and significant concern, and latterly as someone who posed a risk of acting on his Islamist extremist aspirations.

And after police raided Syeedy’s home following the murder, phones and laptops revealed IS propaganda and material.

These included photos of both men doing the one finger IS salute, photos of IS flags draped over road signs in Rochdale and a photo of Syeedy with an IS flag on a street with a mosque.

In August 2015, Mr Uddin’s property including a book he used during Ruqyah was stolen from Jalalia Mosque and destroyed.

Kadir and Syeedy also planned to report him to the Border Force, as Mr Uddin was in the UK illegally.

But the inquiry heard in December 23, 2015, Mr Uddin was photographed with Simon Danczuk, the then-MP for Rochdale, at the door of Jalalia Mosque.

A phone exchange between the two plotters and others, stated: “Oh dear. Voldemort is never going to be busted by the immigration service now.”

Two months later, the two men launched the attack, leaving Mr Uddin dead.

Around 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, paid for by the local community.

The inquiry was adjourned until Tuesday morning.

Read More: Killing of Imam Jalal Uddin shows how extremism is morphing

A hospital anaesthetist is facing jail after injecting his partner with drugs during a series of exorcism ceremonies, leaving her close to death with multiple organ failure.

Hossam Metwally, 60, made dozens of video recordings of himself administering fluids through a cannula to Kelly Wilson while chanting as part of a “dangerous perversion” of the Islamic Ruqya ritual, a court heard.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was warned about the disturbing nature of the content before it was shown extracts from 200 clips the doctor recorded over four years, mainly at his home in Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire.

Some of the recordings show Ms Wilson strapped to a bed, in others she is in a bath, and some show a white liquid being administered – on occasions using an electronic device.

In one clip from 2016, Metwally can be heard chanting and after he revives his partner with smelling salts, she asks “have you raped me?” and requests the police.

Metwally, who is originally from Egypt, told the jury he performed rituals on Ms Wilson to exorcise evil spirits, called Jinns, but said he only used holy oil and did not inject anaesthetics.

Following an eight-week trial, the jury on Thursday took just two hours to find the father-of-four guilty of endangering Ms Wilson’s life through the unlawful and deliberate intravenous administration of anaesthetics or sedative agents and drug possession offences.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told the jury he had “never been involved in a more bizarre case” in his 41-year legal career and said Metwally had been convicted on the “clearest possible” evidence.

Judge Richardson lifted a reporting restriction on Friday, allowing the trial to be reported for the first time, after Metwally admitted two further charges of voyeurism.

Opening the case for the prosecution in June, John Elvidge QC described how an investigation began after Ms Wilson was taken to the Diana, Prince of Wales Hospital in Grimsby – the hospital where Metwally also worked – on July 4, 2019.

Paramedics had arrived at Metwally’s home to find her in a deep coma, on the brink of a cardiac arrest and with a fluid line inserted in her chest.

Mr Elvidge said: “She was critically ill. It was obviously an emergency situation. The medical team at the hospital feared she may suffer a total organ failure and the serious possibility that she might die.”

The prosecutor said Metwally “chose not to reveal that he and Ms Wilson had been engaging in an exorcism ritual on the evening of July 3 2019 during which he had administered anaesthetic sedative agents and then had to give her oxygen support”.

The court heard Metwally qualified as a doctor in Egypt and worked in Saudi Arabia before coming to the UK in 1996 and Grimsby in 1999.

He worked in Goole, Scunthorpe and Grimsby and ran his own pain clinic in the port town.

Metwally met Ms Wilson, now 33, in about 2013 when she was a student nurse. The jury heard she had a history of depression and her health deteriorated so she stopped working as a nurse.

Mr Elvidge said “Dr Metwally gave people the impression that he was supportive of Kelly Wilson and yet he was willing to fuel her appetite for drugs which went well beyond what her general practitioner was prepared to supply.

“Put another way, he knowingly fed her addiction.

“More than that he habitually administered potentially lethal anaesthetic drugs to perform Muslim exorcism rituals known as Ruqya on Ms Wilson.

“That administration and the use of restraints were his own dangerous perversions of such rituals.

“The prosecution say Dr Metwally is a charlatan and he abused his position as a doctor to gain her confidence and encouraged her to become intoxicated using dangerous substances that rendered her into such a state that she forfeited all control over her body to him.”

The jury heard how Metwally held a “vast stock of drugs” at his Laceby Road home, including ampoules of ketamine, propofol, fentanyl and Diazemuls.

An imam told the jury the Ruqya is a valid practice but would never involve drugs or sedation.

He said the case was “quite disturbing” and watching the video clips made him feel “really upset”.

Metwally was found guilty of the intravenous administration of anaesthetic drugs to sedate Ms Wilson which endangered her life; the supply of various controlled drugs or medicines and the possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.

He also admitted a charge of fraud during his trial.

Judge Richardson remanded Metwally in custody until he is sentenced on September 20 and told him a prison term “of some substance” is inevitable.