Radical cleric given £28,500 people carrier

Radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed is to get a new £28,500 car paid for by the taxpayer, it was reported today.

The father of six, who receives £300 a week in state benefits, ordered the Toyota Previa people carrier at a north London garage and said he qualified for a disability scheme that would help pay for leasing it.

Syrian-born Bakri, who lives in a £200,000 house in Edmonton, has received a total of £275,000 in state benefits and is not thought to have worked since he arrived in Britain in 1986. He is being investigated by Scotland Yard over a series of speeches he made on the internet in which it is said he urged Muslims to sign up for a "holy war" against Britain.

In 2003 he also said Muslims have the right to launch terror attacks against countries they believe are attacking them.

It is understood that Bakri, 45, will be able to lease the new car over three years through the Motability scheme. While at the garage, he picked out extras for the seven-seater including satellite navigation, a DVD and CD player and leather upholstery.

He will have to pay a £7,000 deposit himself. His weekly £42.30 disability allowance will be sent directly to Motability for the period of the lease. When the lease expires, the cleric can pay the balance or hand it back and get a new car.

Bakri injured his leg as a child and is now registered disabled. It is believed that his payments are paid to him under the name Omar B.M. Fostok. He will have to wait two weeks while his Motability application is processed and could receive the new car, that will replace his present Ford Galaxy, in four weeks.

His disability allowance is paid at the high rate meant for people with serious mobility problems. A source at the Department of Work and Pensions told The Sun: "This tier is pretty much for people who can't walk." A witness at the garage said Bakri walked without the aid of a stick and "only had a slight limp".