A WAITER caught with a gun and the address of a British soldier is facing up to 10 years in prison.

Abu Baker Mansha, aged 21, tracked down the home of Corporal Mark Byles, 34, after reading a newspaper report on his killing of three rebels in Iraq.

Corporal Byles was awarded the Military Cross following the incident, which was reported in a national newspaper Former Pizza Hut waiter Mansha, who was seized in a Special Branch swoop in March, had underlined vital passages in the story and on a separate scrap of paper had scrawled a Portsmouth address under the word Hero'.

Police officers also found a blank-firing pistol which someone had tried to adapt to fire live bullets.

At Southwark Crown Court on December 22, Mansha was convicted of possessing a document containing information likely to be useful to a person who was committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Under the Terrorism Act 2000 the offence carries the maximum term of 10 years' imprisonment.

Mansha, of Arnott Close, Thamesmead, denied the charge.

He claimed he was helping a friend research a story.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith remanded him in custody until January 26 while pre-sentence reports are prepared.