UK couple face prison over terror plot

A wife in Britain is facing life in jail after buying her husband a large knife after he promised he would murder people on their wedding day.

Madihah Taheer, 22, was convicted of a terrorism offence on Thursday after paying for a large combat knife for her husband, who is also facing life in prison, to use in a UK attack and urging him to "kill people for me".

Taheer also allowed her debit card to be used to buy a lifelike training dummy so that her husband, Ummariyat Mirza, 21, could practise an attack, prosecutors said.

The dummy was found in the couple's Birmingham home with slash marks on the forehead, across the throat and abdomen.

In messages from September 2015, pre-dating the offence and before they were married, Taheer wrote: “'Can we get married already ffs [for f**k's sake] I want u to kill ppl for me, I have a list.”

He replied: “The day of nikkah [wedding], 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.”

In response, Taheer told him: 'Lool [laugh out loud], u can't have it til u put a ring on it.'

A month later, Mirza said he wanted to stab someone they both knew 27 times. Taheer responded that "sounds so satisfying".

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The couple bonded over ISIL content on social media and competed over who was the most radical.

In a WhatsApp exchange on March 12, 2015 Mirza told his wife: “I'm more radical than u, I took u in. I introduced u to dawla and Twitter and jihad. Ur my student.”

Mirza had been researching potential targets on his mobile phone including a military base in Birmingham, central England.

Prosecutors said text messages that the pair had sent each other, in which they threatened violence and discussed the situation in Syria, demonstrated that they were inspired by the Islamic State militant group.

Woolwich Crown Court in London heard that Mirza made Taheer return the first dummy she bought as it was not the model he wanted. He sent her a video so she would know the right one to buy.

The wife was convicted of paying £121 (Dh585) for a lethal hunting knife from Amazon and £275 (Dh1330) for a 'life size training dummy' for her husband to practice his deadly attack. She also filmed herself punching it in the neck and chest.

Mirza was arrested in March this year and pleaded guilty to preparing for terrorist acts at a hearing in September. Taheer was convicted on Thursday of the same charge.

Sue Hemming, Head of the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said in a statement there was little doubt Mirza had the knife to carry out an attack in Britain.

"The prosecution’s case was that his wife was a willing accomplice who bought the knife knowing what he was planning to do," she added.

"This couple posed a serious threat to the public in Britain and now face the prospect of time in prison ..."

The couple, along with Mirza’s older sister Zainab who admitted sending him terrorist material, will be sentenced later. A provisional date for sentencing has been set for Dec. 1.