- Amaani Noor fell in love with 'Hakim My Love' after he wooed her with messages
- She planned to join him in Syria, but was arrested by counter-terrorism officers
- She self-radicalised after collapse of her relationship with footballer Sheyi Ojo
- Noor told sympathiser she didn't have a problem 'with people being killed justly'
Amaani Noor, 21, will be sentenced after being found guilty of donating $45 (£35) to organisation The Merciful Hands
A former beauty contestant and WAG who married a jihadist fighter in an online ceremony was today jailed for 18 months after being convicted of sending money to a terrorist organisation.
Amaani Noor, 21, fell in love with 'Hakim My Love' after he wooed her with messages sent on her 20th birthday.
She planned to join him in Syria, but was arrested by counter-terrorism officers on the day she was planning to fly out to Turkey with her mother.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard how she self-radicalised following the collapse of her long-term relationship with a Liverpool footballer. He was not named but she dated Sheyi Ojo who is currently on loan at Rangers.
Noor broke down in tears as she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Noor, of Wavertree, Liverpool, expressed support for Sharia law and told a fellow sympathiser she didn't have a problem 'with people being killed justly' if they refused to do certain things 'according to Islam'.
She wept in the dock after being convicted of a single count of providing money for the purposes of terrorism.
During her trial she denied the prosecution claim that she wanted the cash - $45.51 (about £35) to go specifically to `a fighter or an ex-fighter` on the front line.
The former Miss Teen GB semi-finalist made her donation at the invitation of Victoria Webster, 28, from Nelson, Lancashire, whom she had met online.
Noor with ex-boyfriend, footballer Sheyi Ojo, in 2014 when she was a Miss Teen GB contestant
Noor was given 18 months in prison today, while Webster was sentenced to 17 months.
Webster tried to comfort her by extending her hand before beginning to cry herself at the sentencing.
Noor’s mother, Nurah, sitting in the public gallery, asked a relative: ‘How can she get more [than Webster's sentence].'
She then walked briskly towards the dock to try to touch her daughter through a gap in the glass screen.
Afterwards she walked up to a counter-terrorism officer in the case and said: ‘You set her up, you evil pigs’.
The judge told Noor he did not accept that she was as modest and naive’ as she presented herself to be.
‘Sadly, there is a cunning about you that you maintained during your evidence and to the probation officer.
‘On the one hand you appear shy and retiring, but in the other you are a perfectly competent, articulate and bright young woman, perfectly capable of giving an account of yourself and expressing your then held ideology
‘I do t think you are as demure as you pretend. Only time will tell whether you have learnt from the mistakes you made’.
At one point Noor had asked Webster to put her in touch with 'brothers' because she 'cannot be in this country any longer'.
Webster had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of providing money for purposes of terrorism and one of inviting another to provide money for purposes of terrorism.
Today the two women stood side by side in the glass-panelled dock as they were sentenced by Judge Andrew Menary.
Noor turned up at the court carrying two Selfridges bags. Her co-defendant had her face covered by a niqab.
The court heard how Noor sent a series of encrypted messages on Telegram and signed up to social media platforms showing videos of Isis fighters torturing victims before beheading them and in one case slitting a man's throat.
Revealing her intention to travel to Syria, she said in one Telegram message last April: 'I just feel like going over…get me back pack ready.'
Amaani Noor (right), 21, of Wavertree, arrives at Liverpool Crown Court on December 10
Serena Gates, prosecuting, said Webster had donated around $60 or £45 to Merciful Hands.
In interviews with police she claimed her intention had been to help women and children.
But she acknowledged that she agreed with Shariah law, including the cutting off of a hand in certain circumstances.
The judge said the two women had engaged in the 'unhealthy side of extremist ideology before they ever met'.
Hossein Zahir, for Webster, said she had been affected by the 'pernicious influence' of a man called Kamran Awam.
She had met him online and he had talked of wanting to marry her.
Victoria Webster (left), 28, and Amaani Noor (right), 21, are both being sentenced today
'As a consequence of that relationship, combined with her mindset which she thoroughly rejects now, she was drawn into this offending.
Noor, pictured at the court on December 10, said she believed the money would go to buy food for women and children in Syria
'It brought about a devastating set of circumstances in her life. She has fallen into the clutches of an extremist ideology'.
Webster had also 'become lost in online extremism' which she now rejected.
Mr Zahir added: 'She was cynically used by a man who escapes justice, but is now on the path to reform. She rejects the ideology and is looking for a way forward'.
David Gottlieb, for Noor, said he believed a form of rehabilitative sentence would be appropriate.
He claimed she had the sole 'noble' intention of helping women and children. She had 'no extremist views in relation to Britain'.
At the age of 14 she had been the victim of a violent racial attack, and as a result had left school early.
Former performing arts student Noor is pictured outside court after an earlier hearing in June
Ojo of Rangers (left) battles for the ball against a Hamilton Academical player on November 24
The attack had an effect on her 'in terms of her self-esteem and making successful relationships'.
Noor's two failed marriages had been like 'planets colliding with her', and together they might have sent her metaphorically spinning out of the solar system'.
However, her family said she was now 'back in a safe orbit'.
She has a fiancée, Nadeem Mohammed, a national account manager who was among those wanting to help her reintegrate with society.
Noor herself had said: 'I've learnt my lesson. I didn't do it for badness.'
Noor broke down in tears and clutched the glass panel in front of her as she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Webster tried to comfort her by extending her hand before beginning to cry herself.
Noor’s mother, Nurah, sitting in the public gallery, asked a relative: ‘How.can she get more’.
She then walked briskly towards the dock to try to touch her daughter through a gap in the glass screen.
Afterwards she walked up to a counter-terrorism officer in the case and said: ‘You set her up, you evil pigs’.
The judge told Noor he did not accept that she was as modest and naive’ as she presented herself to be.
‘Sadly, there is a cunning about you that you maintained during your evidence and to the probation officer.
‘On the one hand you appear shy and retiring, but in the other you are a perfectly competent, articulate and bright young woman, perfectly capable of giving an account of yourself and expressing your then held ideology.
‘I do t think you are as demure as you pretend. Only time will tell whether you have learnt from the mistakes you made’.
The judge told both women they had developed their extreme ideology independently, and that at the time both had wanted to marry front line fighters.
They had signed up to channels that showed graphic images of ‘torture, beheadings and people being set on fire’, and expressed the. Jew that people could be killed if they were ‘not seen to be following the right path’.
There was no evidence to suggest that either was particularly suggestible.
Webster had developed an infatuation with Kamran (note, not Cameron as in earlier copy) Awam.
Noor had deliberately set up her paypal account under a false name not out of modesty, as suggested by her barrister, but for the ‘sinister reason’ of trying to evade detection by police and security services.
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