Abu are ya?

By ANTHONY FRANCE, Crime Reporter, and RHODRI PHILLIPS

Published: Today

DISGRACED soccer star Marlon King has converted to Islam in jail - and named himself after hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza.

The former Premier League striker has been radicalised by Muslim inmates after being caged for molesting a girl and breaking her nose.

And he describes vile Hamza - jailed for seven years in 2006 for soliciting murder - as his "hero".

King, 29, has asked other lags to call him Abu Hamza Tariq. He is praying five times a day toward Mecca, demanding Halal meat and will only talk to Muslim inmates.

He has already been to see the prison imam to discuss being converted.

King, who played for Wigan, has also started discussions on the 9/11 suicide attacks in New York and the war in Afghanistan.

Staff and inmates at HMP Wayland, near Thetford, Norfolk, are astonished by his behaviour.

It comes weeks after the married dad of three was caught with cocaine in his cell.

An insider said: "Marlon's gone from bad boy convict to devout Muslim in next to no time. He is talking about Abu Hamza as a hero - even though he is hated by the public.

"Marlon has even talked about converting his family when he gets out of jail later this year.

"This isn't temporary - it's a total lifestyle change. Marlon reads books about Islam for hours in his cell."

ALBANPIX

The insider also claims that King has obtained smuggled mobile phones for all the top Muslim inmates at the prison.

King was jailed for 18 months last October for sexually assaulting 20-year-old Emily Carr at London's Soho Revue Bar - and attacking her when she tried to resist his advances.

It emerged during his trial that the player - who earned £35,000- a-week at Wigan before being fired in October - has 13 previous convictions including theft, assaulting a police officer and wounding.

King, who now wears a bandana, claims he will donate £25,000 to the Afghan people to help them cope with the fallout from the conflict.

Amazingly, he has also told fellow lags that he will play for Premier League giants CHELSEA on his release - and claims a contract is waiting to be signed.

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The insider added: "It would be remarkable if a team like Chelsea would take on a social pariah like King."

Last month a wrap of cocaine was found in his bedside cabinet during a cell search. He also had a banned mobile phone charger.

Prison chiefs are investigating how King was able to obtain the Class A drugs and the charger.

He was kept in solitary confinement for several days as punishment.

The Sun told how two weeks earlier he was battered with a plate and left with a black eye during a jail dinner queue row.

King is said to have "roared with pain" after being hit by a plastic dish after getting caught up in a brawl between two other prisoners.

Wayland is a 1,000-inmate Category C prison with specialist sex offender treatment programmes for those who are willing to accept their offending behaviour.

a.france@the-sun.co.uk

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2928263/Marlon-King-asked-Abu-are-ya.html#ixzz0ktXYhJdF

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