muslim couple who practised knife attacks on a dummy while plotting a UK terror attack are jailed

• Madihah Taheer, 22, and husband Ummariyat Mirza, 21, were sentenced today
• The nursery worker encouraged her husband to kill people for her once they wed
• Taheer jailed for 10 years and her husband Mirza for 16 at Woolwich Crown Court
• They sent each other a string of messages detailing how they would kill people 

An extremist husband and wife who practised knife attacks on a dummy while plotting a terror attack have been jailed.

Nursery worker Madihah Taheer and her husband Ummariyat Mirza, from Birmingham, argued over which of them was more radical as they planned to emulate the San Bernardino attack in California which killed 14 and left 22 injured.

Taheer, 22, encouraged husband Mirza, 21, by buying him a hunting knife and telling him before they were married that 'I want you to kill ppl for me'.

They were both jailed at Woolwich Crown Court today - Mirza for 16 years for preparing acts of terrorism in the UK, assisted by his wife Taheer who was sentenced to 10 years.

Madihah Taheer and Ummariyat Mirza have been jailed for plotting a terrorist attack

In messages to each other, Mirza, 21, said he wanted to stab someone 27 times, to which Taheer replied that 'sounds so satisfying'.

He then sent her a video of him pretending to stab a chair and asked her to buy him a knife.

When police searched the couple's home in St Agathas Road, Birmingham, they found the training dummy with slash marks across the forehead, throat and abdomen.

Mirza admitted preparing terrorist acts and two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist, after he researched potential targets including a Birmingham military base on his phone.

Taheer denied any involvement but was found guilty of the preparation of terrorist acts after trial at Woolwich Crown Court in October.

Among the messages between the couple were several sent in September 2015, predating their marriage in April 2016, in which Taheer told Mirza: 'Can we get married already ffs. I want you to kill for me. I have a list.'

Mirza replied: 'The day of the nikkah (marriage) I'll kill em all. Give me the list. The only thing that stops me is we are not married. I will defo I'm not joking.'

The Crown Prosecution Service said the conversations showed Taheer was a 'willing accomplice' who knew what Mirza wanted to use the knife for.

Also due to be sentenced is 23-year-old Zainab Mirza, Mirza's sister, who shared Islamic State propaganda with the couple on social media.

Zainab, of Eastfield Road, Birmingham, earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of disseminating terrorist publications, which she had sent to her brother.