Meguerba said he made photocopies of the poison recipe pages but he said he was not involved in any poison plot.
Nigel Sweeney, QC, prosecuting said Meguerba faces charges in Algeria which include crimes committed in Britain as well as crimes committed in his home country.
Very different picture
But when Bourgass gave evidence he gave a very innocent picture of himself.
Questioned by his own lawyer, Michel Massih, he said he had been a conscripted police officer for a year back in Algeria and he said he came to Britain to find work.
He said he was sent to Manchester by the Home Office after applying for asylum.
But he said he felt lonely there because there were not many Arabs and he moved to London, where he stayed for a while at the mosque in Finsbury Park.
He said he only met Meguerba in the spring of 2002, when he began buying and selling clothes.
Bourgass said they discussed the situation back in Algeria, particularly the massacres of innocent people which were often blamed on Islamic groups.
Poison recipes
Mr Massih then asked him about the poison recipes and why he had written them.
Bourgass said: "I wrote it in accordance with a request by this man Meguerba."
Mr Massih asked: "How did he tell you about writing the recipes?"
Bourgass replied: "When after the relationship had developed and he told me about the incidents that had occurred in his village.
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He (Meguerba) told me that people in Algeria, these groups, when they made their raids on these villages they took their supplies and food from these people and he wanted to put it in food, that's what he told me
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"He told me he wanted to help people in his village and he told me he wanted to go to Algeria to help people in his village. He asked me if I could help him out and write for him these copies that were found with me."
Mr Massih asked: "When you copied these recipes did you realise these were recipe to make poisons?"
He replied: "Yes, he told me before he asked me to write them. He told me he wanted to write recipes which contained products of poisons and explosives."
'What was the purpose?'
Mr Massih asked: "Did you discuss the purpose of the recipes to have been used?"
Bourgass replied: "He told me he wanted to help people in the village against these raids, attacks carried out by these terrorist groups. He wanted to go to Algeria to go to the village and if there was to be an attack by these groups he would use these things against them as self-defence according to him...
"He told me that people in Algeria, these groups, when they made their raids on these villages they took their supplies and food from these people and he wanted to put it in food, that's what he told me."
The jury clearly did not accept Bourgass's story, preferring to believe that he was a dedicated terrorist out to target Britain.