Convert: Rebekah Dawson, 22, who refused to remove her niqab full face veil in court has been jailed for a further six months
A Muslim convert who refused to remove her niqab in court was jailed for six months today after she terrorised a mosque security guard because he allowed non-Muslim women inside without veils.
Last week Rebekah Dawson, 22, was sentenced to 20 months at the Old Bailey for making three videos glorifying the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby while her husband Royal Barnes, 23, was jailed for five years and four months.
However, today she was sentenced to a further six months after admitting to threatening and intimidating Daudi Yusuf at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
Dawson had initially denied a single charge of intimidating a witness but, in a bizarre twist, changed her plea to guilty in January after the jury failed to reach a verdict against her and her brother Matthias Dawson, 32.
She had tried to stop Mr Yusuf from testifying against Barnes, who had assaulted him.
Barnes had angrily confronted Mr Yusuf after they took offence when he let three Portuguese women tourists tour the mosque without wearing headscarves on June 10 last year.
She later returned to Mr Yusuf’s office and confronted him about letting non-Muslims into the mosque asking him 'Why are you inviting naked women in the mosque.'
Dawson then ran off and her husband attacked Mr Yusuf who then reported it to the police.
Two weeks later, on June 23, Dawson returned to the mosque in an attempt to stop Mr Yusuf from giving evidence.
She told the frightened security guard: ‘Now I’ve seen your face you’re finished - you’re not safe’.
Barnes was found guilty of assault and harassment at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in December 2013.
Mr Yusuf said he was left feeling 'worried' about another attack because he did not know what Dawson looked like due to her having her face covered.
A defence statement previously made to the court said: 'She attended on June 23 to ask him why he was lying.
Row: Dawson admitted to threatening and intimidating Daudi Yusuf at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London in a row over non-Muslim women being allowed inside without wearing veils
'She did not threaten him or do anything to interfere with him being a witness in other proceedings.'
During her trial Dawson had to remove her veil for a female police officer who then verified that she was the defendant at the start of every court session.
During her trial at Blackfriars Crown Court she refused to remove her niqab - which leaves only the eyes on show.
She claimed her religion prevented her removing the veil in the presence of men but Judge Peter Murphy ruled it was of ‘cardinal importance’ that a jury could see her face while she gave evidence.
In his original ruling Judge Murphy said that Dawson could not expect the court to ‘set aside its established procedure’ to accommodate a ‘particular religious practice’.
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Video nasty: Barnes was filmed by his wife laughing hysterically as he drove past the scene of the attack near Woolwich Barracks last May
Susan Meek, defending, today told the court that Dawson, of Stroud Green, north London, has suffered ‘great intrusion into her life’ due to ‘unprecedented media interest’ for her wearing of the niqab.
She also said that Dawson’s dreams of becoming an English teacher were now in “tatters” and that she wanted to get on with her life being a law abiding citizen.
But Judge Murphy said the court must show that witness intimidation was not acceptable.
Shocking: In the video clips Barnes described the day Fusilier Lee Rigby (pictured) was murdered as 'brilliant'
He said: 'I have given a great deal of thought to this case. Mr Daudi Yusuf was doing his job. Obviously there was a difference of opinion but it did not justify the offence committed against him.'
The judge jailed Dawson for an extra six months for intimidating Mr Yusuf, to run consecutively to her current term of imprisonment, and also handed her a five-year restraining order banning her from contacting Mr Yusuf, going within 500 meters of Finsbury Park Mosque and from entering the Muslim Welfare Centre..
'Your brother said that your husband Royal Barnes had changed your life considerably for the worse - I’m sure you don’t agree with that', he said.
'I have to say I find his evidence compelling and whether you wish me to or not I’m going to take into account my own belief that this offence was committed by you at least partly under your husband’s influence.'
He added: 'It was not a systematic campaign but took place on one occasion and no violence was used but the threats were obviously very real.'
Dawson, who refused to stand in court, bowed her head as she received her latest prison sentence.
Last week Dawson and her husband were jailed at the Old Bailey after she filmed Barnes - a Muslim extremist with links to one of Lee Rigby's killers Michael Adebowale - as he glorified theWoolwich killing in a series of YouTube videos.
Barnes was filmed by his veiled wife laughing hysterically as he drove past the scene of the attack near Woolwich Barracks last May.
The couple ridiculed the memorial flowers left by friends, family, and members of the public for Drummer Rigby and Barnes described the murder as ‘absolutely brilliant’ on videos uploaded on to YouTube.
In the clip shot as the pair drove close to tributes left to Drummer Rigby, Dawson asked her husband to drive around again as he said: 'These kuffar, they fail to realise that their foreign policy is the reason why this Lee Rigby is no more...he got chopped up in Woolwich...'
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