A CROSS-FAITH group today said a terror plot backed by a High Wycombe man had shaken the town “to the core” and had been “consistently condemned” by Muslims.

The Council for Christian Muslim Relations – established after Assad Sarwar and co-defendants were arrested in 2006 – pledged to fight for better cohesion.

Sarwar, of Walton Drive, was convicted on Monday of conspiracy to commit murder on board transatlantic jets and a general conspiracy to murder charge.

He and two from London plotted to smuggle liquid bombs disguised as soft drinks and blow up seven planes over the Atlantic.

The CCMR statement said: “The arrests from High Wycombe of those suspected of being linked with what would have been unimaginably horrific consequences of the ‘liquid bomb plot’ had shaken the local community to the core.

“The Muslim community of High Wycombe has consistently condemned violent extremism and terrorism as un-Islamic and regards those activities as totally misguided and evil.”

The statement, from chairman Chaudry Shafique and vice chairman The Revd David Picken, of All Saints Church, said the group was committed to fighting divisions.

It said the council “has worked hard towards maintaining traditionally strong community relations in Wycombe rooted in the values of mutual respect, openness and trust”.

It added: “We will continue our unstinting efforts and commitment to a common vision for our town as a place of tolerance, harmony and reconciliation.”

Black Muslim convert Umar Islam, a 31-year-old formerly of High Wycombe, was found guilty on the conspiracy to murder charge but not the jet charge.

Donald Stewart-Whyte, a white convert from High Wycombe, was found not guilty of both charges (see link, bottom of story).