Conviction is quashed (From Asian Image)

Conviction is quashed

3:37pm Tuesday 17th June 2008

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The woman who called herself the "lyrical terrorist" won her appeal against conviction for collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Former Heathrow shop assistant Samina Malik, 24, who was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months at the Old Bailey last December, was the first women convicted under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Today, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, sitting in the Court of Appeal with Mr Justice Goldring and Mr Justice Plender, quashed the conviction after the Crown conceded that it was unsafe.

He said: "We consider that there is a very real danger that the jury became confused and that the prosecution have rightly conceded that this conviction is unsafe."

Afterwards, the Crown Prosecution Service said it has decided not to seek a retrial in the case.

Malik, who was not in court, adopted her nickname because of the extremist lyrics which she wrote on till receipts at work.

By Jan Colley

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