Couple who exchanged messages about killing people and plotted attack jailed

Madihah Taheer, 22, encouraged Ummar Mirza by telling him before they were married that "I want you to kill ppl for me. I have a list".

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

Mirza admitted one count of preparing terrorist acts between January and March this year.

Two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist were left on file at Woolwich Crown Court.

Sentencing him to 16 years in jail with an extended licence period of five years, Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: "You had moved a long way down the road of preparation of a terrorist act of the lone wolf type."

Taheer denied any involvement but was found guilty of the preparation of terrorist acts between February 12 and March 30 this year, through buying the knife.

She was jailed for 10 years with an extended period of one year.

Also sentenced was Zainub Mirza, Mirza's sister, who shared Islamic State propaganda with the couple on social media.

The 24-year-old, of Eastfield Road, Birmingham, earlier pleaded guilty to five counts of disseminating terrorist publications, which she had sent to her brother between January 10 and 23 this year.

She was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment.

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."

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.

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

Prosecutor John McGuinness QC said: "The evidence shows that these two defendants held a shared belief in violent pro-jihad, Islamic State extremism.

"They show evidence of supporting the Islamic State, its methods, beliefs and aims."

Sentencing Ummar Mirza, Judge Kinch said he had shown "inexorable progress" towards an attack.

He added that he had "moved from speculative ideas to sourcing equipment, to training and searching for possible targets".

Addressing Ummar Mirza, the judge said: "The harm which might have been caused is undoubtedly high.

"I am satisfied having regard to all the material I have read that you pose a significant risk of serious harm being caused to members of the public from the commission of further specified offences."

Referring to Taheer, Judge Kinch said her case was a "personal tragedy" as the trial came when her first child was just five months old.

He added that he was not satisfied that she could be classed as dangerous.

During one exchange between Ummar Mirza and Taheer, the pair discussed who was "more radical" out of the two of them.

Mr McGuinness said: "He stated that he was more radical than her and said to her 'remember who brought you to this organisation'.

"Also 'don't forget the one who helped you to get to this position'."

Other messages between the couple showed them discussing the purchase of a training dummy, and Ummar Mirza preferring a neoprene one over a plastic one.

One message from him to Taheer said: "I know the difference in feeling. (The) same way I like hitting you. It is fun. It feels nice to hit, so to feel flesh contort under the force."

The court heard Mirza's sister also sent him a number of videos, including some that showed IS militants beheading hostages, and one which showed "American spies" having their throats slit before being hanged upside down from meat hooks in what appeared to be an abattoir.

In one message, she said to him: "May Allah give us the ability to raise our children to fight for Allah."

In a family WhatsApp group, another one of his sisters sent a picture of her young son dressed in a police uniform.

Mirza responded: "He is on a covert mission - Trojan horse - ready to slaughter the pigs in Stechford Police station."

Searches of Mirza and Taheer's home after their arrest also discovered a training knife and a steel hunting blade attached to a cord so it could be concealed under clothing and body armour.

The court heard that before Taheer bought the £121.20 blade for her husband, he had carried out a number of internet searches for the best knife to buy.

Other searches he conducted included "how to commit the perfect murder?" and "how easy is it to kill someone with a knife?"

After acquiring the weapon, he researched a number of targets, including Jewish areas in London and Birmingham, and barracks and Territorial Army bases in Birmingham, the court heard.

Two days before Ummar Mirza was arrested he had also been searching news reports about a Birmingham flat being linked to the Westminster terror attack, and the Westminster attacker Khalid Masood.

By Nina Massey