A woman has pleaded guilty to two terror offences after admitting she posted a series of messages on social media which encouraged terrorism.

Alaa Esayed, 22, from Kennington, south London, was accompanied by her father and a translator as she admitted encouraging terrorism and dissemination of a terrorist publication at the Old Bailey.

Esayed was permitted by judge Charles Wide to take the unusual step of entering her plea from the public gallery rather than the dock.

No details about the volume or content of the messages - published on Twitter and Instagram - were disclosed in court during the 10-minute hearing.

The charges date back to posts she made between June 1 2013 and 14 May 2014, and cover tweets which featured links to poems and other terrorist propaganda.

She is due to be sentenced on May 18, pending medical reports. She was released on bail.