‘I used to be lured to a distant cottage, handcuffed and brutally overwhelmed by masked jihadis’: The chilling story of a sinister anti-Semitic kidnapping within the coronary heart of rural Britain

Beaten, bloodied and handcuffed to a radiator, Itay Kashti truly believed he was going to die. Trapped in the middle of the Welsh countryside 200 miles from his loved ones, his panicked thoughts immediately turned to his family. ‘I just remember thinking about my children and my wife, telling myself, ‘I must be with them,’ ‘ the 45-year-old recalls with a shudder now, seven months later.

‘It’s not as if I am a soldier, or a fighter, or an activist. You see my workspace here. Is this a place that provokes this kind of ordeal?’

It most certainly is not. A gentle and creative man, Itay is chatting to me from his music studio in north London with his piano, drum kit and treasured guitar (‘It’s a Martin,’ he tells me proudly – a prestigious brand of acoustic guitar) to hand.

He is a music producer, and it is clear that he would much rather be discussing his work with stars including Earl Slick, a guitarist for David Bowie and John Lennon, who was in his studio just a few days before we meet. How did an innocent creative like this come to be beaten and cuffed to a radiator – in rural Wales of all places?

His ordeal marks one of the most chilling acts of anti-Semitic violence in the UK, and the fact it hasn’t had more national news coverage is alarming to say the least.

For Itay, an Israeli who came to the UK 18 years ago, was targeted by a jihadi gang who lured him to Carmarthenshire for a ‘music retreat’. The retreat, he learned too late, did not exist.

When he arrived at the remote Welsh cottage, he was attacked by three masked men armed with imitation pistols who threatened to kill him if he did not comply with their demands.

He escaped only because the taxi driver who had taken him there had helped him in with his bags and, seeing the violence, escaped to raise the alarm.

‘That man was a Muslim,’ Itay says. ‘And I owe him my life.’

Last week his three attackers were each sentenced at Swansea Crown Court to eight years and one month. The court heard that Faiz Shah, 23, Mohammad Comrie, 23, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, were trying to extort money with the elaborate kidnap plan.

But there is no question the attack was also religiously motivated – and its perpetrators not afraid to kill.

‘I have no doubt that the victim was targeted due to his Jewish heritage,’ said Judge Catherine Richards, adding that the plot was ‘motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world’.

Little wonder that Itay compared the attack to his ‘own personal October 7’ – a reference to the Hamas massacre in Israel 18 months ago.

Now, with his attackers behind bars, he has agreed to tell his full terrifying story to The Mail On Sunday.

The horrifying plot began to take shape last summer when Shah, Comrie and Ogunnubi-Sime met online and started planning the kidnap on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

Why they chose to target Itay is one of the many question marks still looming over this case. They claimed Itay had attended pro-Israel marches and profited from West Bank settlements – both of which are untrue.

He claims that he grew up in Israel’s capital, Tel Aviv, and his only ‘activism’ was playing guitar at a march for victims of the Hamas attacks.

‘Each one of us has 100 per cent faith in Allah, so we cannot fail,’ wrote Ogunnubi-Sime in one message. ‘No remorse for a man like this, he ain’t just some Jew doing it for the [money], he actually loves this s***.’

Itay, of course, knew none of this last August when he received an email from someone called Lucas Winslow, who claimed to work for Polydor Records. Itay was intrigued by the idea of a music retreat, and called to chat about logistics.

It was explained that a group of musicians would be involved and all instruments and recording equipment would be provided. Itay would only have to bring himself – and the organisers would arrange all the travel.

He had gone to similar retreats before, and was motivated by the ‘creative possibilities that come with collaboration’.

He recalls: ‘The guy I spoke to was young and even at the time I thought he sounded a little green, but at no point do you ever think, ‘I’m walking into a kidnap plot here.’ Who would? I make music.’

Around 10am on August 26, Itay was picked up from his home by the taxi, as arranged. It was later established that the driver of the Mercedes – who would prove to be so important in his rescue – was not involved in the plot, and had simply been hired for the considerable fare. The journey to the cottage, near the small town of Llanybydder, would take about five hours.

‘I realised from the driver’s dress and appearance that it was likely he was Muslim, and just a few miles down the road he asked where I was from,’ Itay recalls.

‘I smiled and said ‘why ruin it?’ because I am cautious talking about my background. Not that I am ashamed of it, but in the current climate…

‘But this guy said he had a hunch I was Israeli, and we did end up chatting. It was a good connection, actually. It’s not every day you get that kind of space and time for a conversation, and it was a good conversation.’

There were several comfort stops on the way, but the pair arrived at the remote Airbnb about 3.30pm.

It was sheer luck that Itay asked the driver to come in with him: ‘There was a key code thing and I wasn’t sure about how it worked. I was also concerned about whether we were in the right place. I thought, ‘If this guy leaves, I’ll never get an Uber.’ ‘

Itay had been expecting more participants to be there, but there was an eerie silence as he let himself in. ‘It felt weird,’ he recalls. ‘It wasn’t what I was expecting.’

He and the driver were inside for only about 30 seconds before hell was unleashed. ‘Three men, masked and covered head to toe, leaped on me and started hitting me on the head,’ Itay recalls.

‘One of them had one of those Anonymous masks on – the sort you see in horror films. That was one of the most chilling things for me.

‘I remember kicks to my head, punches. From the corner of my eye I saw the taxi driver being hit too, but I lost sight of him after that. I don’t know for sure how he managed to escape but I guess it was because he was a bit closer to the door and bigger than me.’

There was shouting, shoving, chaos. Itay was aware of handcuffs being placed on him. He was made to lie face-down.

‘So much of it is a blur and it happened so fast. It was surreal because it was an ordinary holiday cottage with a small television and a sofa and a table, and there was this faint afternoon light coming in.

‘I was kicked again when I was on the ground. I was aware of so much bleeding, facially. Blood was running. And I thought, ‘This is it. This is the end of me.’

‘Later, I discovered that my contact lenses had been knocked out, so they must have hit me with some force.’

He has relived this moment in counselling sessions, and says he tries hard not to think of the ‘what ifs’. But in between thinking of his children and his wife, he had ‘flashes of October 7’ – as you probably would if you are Israeli-born and it dawns on you that you are a hostage. Two or three minutes passed before Itay realised he could get to his feet. ‘They had put the handcuffs over a pipe attached to the radiator, but only at one end. I could work the handcuffs over it.’

Free of the radiator, he saw his phone on a table. ‘They’d emptied my pockets but the phone was there. I grabbed it – and my guitar – and stumbled out. I was limping, half-blind. One eye was completely closed. I must have looked like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky.’

Where were his attackers? It was established during the court case that they had fled, presumably realising the taxi driver would raise the alarm.

It was at this point, Itay acknowledges with a wry smile, that the plot descended almost into farce. Indeed, there is some dry humour in his retelling as he shrugs: ‘I can’t believe I am saying this but, as I said to a friend the other day, only Jewish and Israeli people get kidnapped and say they are lucky.’

The gangsters were apprehended, after the police helicopter was scrambled in – of all places – a field full of cows.

Meanwhile, after escaping on to the remote road by the cottage, Itay frantically waved to a passing motorist, who saw him but drove on. ‘I discovered later that this person called the police, but thought I was signalling for them not to stop because there was some danger,’ he says.

He ended up hiding behind a bush, still clutching his guitar (‘I grabbed it on the way out – it is a Martin’) and managed to call his wife.

‘She said, “are you joking?”, but when she realised I wasn’t, she called the police and gave them my location, which I’d managed to WhatsApp to her.’

He and the taxi driver – as well as the passing motorist – also alerted the emergency services. Within 20 minutes, officers were at the scene.

With his long, dark curls, there is a touch of Kiss frontman Gene Simmons about Itay, and he says he was suddenly aware that his eccentric rock-star look might not be his greatest asset here.

‘I was very self-conscious at that point. I know that in appearance I might seem strange to people and I have a foreign accent, too. I was badly bruised and bloodied and I was carrying a guitar. It looked odd.’

Did the police in Wales grasp that they were dealing with a jihadi attack? Clearly not, at that point. ‘I mentioned October 7. They were very curious and said, ‘What happened on October 7?’ I said, ‘Do you know the Gaza war? They said, ‘Of course.’ I was a bit bewildered.’

It was only after his attackers had pleaded guilty that Itay discovered the full extent of the plot.

It emerged that Shah, Comrie and Ogunnubi-Sime – from Bradford, Leeds and London respectively – had bought face-masks, gloves, gags, cable ties and the drug ketamine, and rented the remote cottage using a fake ID.

They had warned each other to conceal the ‘Islamic angle’ of their plot, and Shah said they should kill him if necessary: warning: ‘I am not going to pen [jail] without his bread [money] or his soul.’

Itay remains completely at a loss as to why they chose him.

‘I am not rich,’ he says. ‘If it was about money, with respect, they could have found a much better target. I drive a 2012 Nissan Juke. Hardly a Bentley!’

Nor had he been an activist or agitator, he insists: ‘I’m a musician. Even if I have opinions, I feel there is a time and place for them. I am not confrontational. I am a gentle, nice person. I do not get into trouble like this.’

His wife, who rushed to Wales that night, was ‘traumatised’ by the attack. Even today, he is still shaken – not just by the physical attack, but by what it represents.

‘You know, I haven’t suffered from anti-Semitism since I came here,’ he tells me. ‘My parents, family and friends [back in Israel] asked before if I had felt it and I said, ‘Honestly, no.’

‘Maybe it is here, muted, unspoken, but I never felt it.

‘Then you realise that something like this can happen to you specifically because of your background. You are basically being shrunk. You are not a person any more – you are an Israeli and a Jew. It’s like a lower degree of human in those people’s eyes.

‘It’s chilling, and it has forced me to ask whether living in the UK was the right choice.’

Was it? He considers the taxi driver who saved his life, the motorist who called for help, and the justice system that put his attackers behind bars.

‘I think, on balance, yes, I did make the right choice. There are enough people in this country who know right from wrong.’