- Lorna Moore was convicted after husband left the country in August 2014
- Converted to Islam in 2002 after Protestant upbringing in Northern Ireland
- 33-year-old had been accused of wanting to travel to the Syrian war zone
- Claimed in court her relationship was abusive and she tried to get divorce
- Ayman Shaukat also found guilty of helping Moore's husband get to ISIS
- Will be sentenced with Kerry Thomason, who assisted her own husband
Muslim convert Lorna Moore (pictured), who was training to teach maths, has been found guilty of not telling police her husband left to join ISIS after being accused of planning to take her three children to Syria
A Muslim convert who was training to teach maths has been found guilty of not telling police her husband left to join ISIS after being accused of planning to take her three children to Syria.
Lorna Moore was convicted after it emerged her supply teacher husband Sajid Aslam, 34, left the country to try and join the terror group in August 2014.
The 33-year-old, who had a Protestant upbringing in Northern Ireland, had been one of a number of British Muslims from Walsall, West Midlands - including two pregnant women - accused of wanting to travel to the war zone.
She was found guilty of failing to tell authorities Aslam left to fight for ISIS today after a trial at the Old Bailey.
The court heard that at the time of Aslam's departure Moore, who met her husband at Manchester Metropolitan University, had taken the rest of the family on a Butlins holiday in Skegness.
She then booked flights to Palma, Majorca, and was due to travel in November last year. She also started to make plans to rent out her home.
The prosecution alleged the tickets were a plan to get her children - including one who was just 11 months old at the time - to Syria.
It was claimed her final destination was given away in a text from another Muslim convert's wife in Turkey, who said 'see you there'.
Julian Christopher, prosecuting, said of the message: ‘[This] suggests the journey that has been planned is not simply a two-week holiday to Majorca.
‘In fact, the plan was to take the children, via an innocuous-looking destination, to be reunited with their father.'
But Moore, who had recently enrolled on a £4,500 PGCE course, insisted she would 'never' put her children's lives in danger, adding: 'They mean the world to me.'
She claimed she had been planning to take them back to her family's Protestant farm in Omagh, Northern Ireland, after finishing her teacher training. Her mother backed up her claim.
She also told the court that her relationship with Aslam had ended after he became abusive and said they only lived together for the sake of the children, the court heard.
She said: ‘He would grab me by the hair and put my face in the toilet and say "does that look clean to you".
‘[He said] if it was not for him I would be a "Gori [offensive name for a white person] on a council estate with a can of Carling and a cigarette and with five kids by five different fathers".'
She added: ‘He was controlling, he always wanted to be in the lead, he would have made sure that this is mealtime he has his meal on time.’
The 33-year-old, pictured outside court at the beginning of the month, was convicted after it emerged her supply teacher husband Sajid Aslam (right), 34, left the country to join the terror group in August 2014
Moore, who was said to have lived a 'typical student life' until converting in 2002, claimed when she turned to a Muslim cleric for a divorce, he told her that a 'white Muslim is not a special Muslim' and she must take her husband back.
She said Aslam should 'grow a pair' and come back to Britain and explain himself 'if he is innocent and got nothing to hide'.
Aslam's sister Sarwat told jurors her brother had been in touch with her during the course of the trial to say he wanted to 'start a dialogue with police about coming home'.
Meanwhile, Moore's co-defendant, Ayman Shaukat, 27, was also found guilty of helping Aslam and another Muslim convert, 22-year-old Alex Nash.
Jurors were also told about other members of the West Midlands group who allegedly set off for Syria between July and December 2014. Kerry Thomason (pictured) pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assisting her husband, Isaiah Siadatan, to travel to Syria and engage in acts of terrorism
Shaukat, from Walsall, had denied helping his friends join IS by dropping Aslam and Nash off at airports.
The court heard the day after dropping Aslam off at the airport Shaukat sent a photograph of himself posing with the IS flag.
Aslam sent a triumphant coded message - a video link to a song called Made It by Cash Money Heroes - back to reveal he had made it to his destination.
Shaukat, who started a law degree at Manchester Metropolitan University after dropping out of a building course, described IS as 'evil' and said that he had told MI5 he would 'assist in any way I could' after agents contacted him as treasurer of the community group Islam Walsall.
He had several meetings and phone calls with security services before their association 'fizzled out', he said.
Jurors were also told about other members of the West Midlands group who allegedly set off for Syria between July and December 2014.
The first to join ISIS was Muslim convert, Jake Petty, 25, also known as Abu Yaqoob Britany.
His Christian minister mother Sue Boyce wept as she told jurors how she begged him not to go.
In a message sent on October 26 last year to his parents, twin brother Tom and two sisters, Petty insisted ‘we are not a load of backward, bloodthirsty terrorists’ and claimed ‘nobody has been brainwashed or tricked’.
His mother was later forced to identify his body from video footage on social media after he was killed in December 2014.
Petty was swiftly followed by former schoolmate Isaiah Siadatan, 24, whose pregnant wife Kerry Thomason, 24, was supposed to fly out with their two children but was stopped by police.
The court heard that he had sent her an email in December 2014 insisting that she should bring their children to him in ISIS. It read: ‘If you don’t bring my kids to the Islamic State I will send
someone to kill you and I will send someone to kill your mum and dad.
‘You have two weeks from today. Look I love you but if you think I will let you bring up my kids in a kafir country you’re mistaken.’
Siadatan is believed to have been killed in the summer of 2015, although his death is unconfirmed.
Thomason has previously pleaded guilty to assisting her husband in preparation of his terrorist acts.
Moore's co-defendant, Ayman Shaukat, 27, was also found guilty of helping Aslam and another Muslim convert, 22-year-old Alex Nash. Shaukat (pictured) took the above selfie after dropping Aslam at the airport
Shaukat (left) described IS as 'evil' and told the court he had told MI5 he would 'assist in any way I could'. Nash (right) admitted preparing acts of terrorism, while a charge against his wife - who was allegedly the one to text Moore 'see you there' - was discontinued
Meanwhile, Nash, 22, and his pregnant wife Yousma Jan, 20, were arrested by Turkish authorities and sent back to the UK.
He took sole responsibility for the plan and admitted preparing acts of terrorism, while a charge against his wife was discontinued.
Prosecutor Mark Dawson had previously claimed Jan's 'aim was to give birth in the Islamic State not Walsall’.
Prosecutors also confirmed it was believed pregnancy was a ‘key driver’ in some of the women’s attempts to get to Syria
Speaking after the verdict, West Midlands Police's Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said the case showed that Moore was 'just as criminal and just as dangerous' as her husband.
He said: 'ISIS is a really dangerous organisation and the criminal courts will be interested in hearing those cases.
'Another important part of this case is where you have got people who have knowledge of travel and the intent when they get there who have not come forward, and that's committing a crime. If they are helping ISIS, then that's a danger to the UK.'
Moore, Shaukat and Nash will be sentenced alongside Thomason at a later date.
Judge Charles Wide granted Moore conditional bail out of 'concern' for her children but told her she should have 'no expectations raised'.
No comments:
Post a Comment