Amaani Noor (right), 21, of Wavertree, arrives at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday
A former Miss Teen GB star and Liverpool FC WAG who married an ISIS fighter in an online ceremony was today found guilty of giving £35 to a terror fighting fund.
Amaani Noor, 21, who fell in love with a jihadi called Hakim My Love after he wooed her with messages sent on her 20th birthday, planned to join him in Syria.
She denied making illegal donations of £35 to help fund terrorism using the false name Margaret Allen and claimed she believed the money would go to buy food for women and children in Syria.
After three hours and 38 minutes, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court today convicted her by a majority of 10-2 of fundraising contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.
Noor, of Wavertree, Liverpool, who broke down in tears in the dock, was warned by Judge Andrew Menary, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, that there ‘is bound to be a custodial sentence.’
He agreed to a request by David Gottlieb, defending, that a pre-sentence should be prepared on Noor. The judge said he would do so because her age and previous good character.
Noor with ex-boyfriend, footballer Sheyi Ojo, in 2014 when she was a Miss Teen GB contestant
Noor (left) will be sentenced alongside Victoria Webster (right), who has pleaded guilty to three counts of fundraising contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000
He also said: ‘I am not sure even now I know that much about Miss Noor.
‘There is some information, she gave evidence about her background and reference to a previous relationship with someone in the public eye and no doubt significant change in her life since then.’
Former Miss Teen GB star Noor married an ISIS fighter in an online ceremony
He told the defendant, who left the court in floods of tears, that she must prepare herself for a custodial sentence.
The judge told the jury: ‘It is a sad case. You’ve had an insight into this murky and challenging world that some people occupy on line.’
He also said that if they glanced online they would see she had been in a relationship with a professional footballer.
Noor was further remanded on bail until December 20 when she will be sentenced alongside Victoria Webster, 28, of Nelson, Lancashire, who has pleaded guilty to three counts of fundraising contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.
During the trial, the court heard how Noor became serious about Islam after she had a messy break-up with a Liverpool footballer.
He was not named but she dated Sheyi Ojo, who is currently on loan at Rangers.
Former performing arts student Noor is pictured outside court after an earlier hearing in June
He publicly supported her when she was a beauty pageant contestant with the couple touted as the new Posh and Becks.
Noor, pictured outside the court on Tuesday, said she believed the money would go to buy food for women and children in Syria
When she was arrested last year she had flights booked to Turkey so she could head to Syria to join Hakim.
She expressed support for Sharia law and said she didn’t have a problem ‘with people being killed justly’ if they refused to do certain things ‘according to Islam’, it is alleged.
Noor said she believed her husband was fighting ‘to fight against oppression and for Islam’.
The former Miss Teen GB semi-finalist, said she believed the money would go to buy food for women and children in Syria.
She told the court she began to focus on her religion after splitting from an unfaithful boyfriend, who was ‘in the public eye’, when she was 18.
Ojo of Rangers (left) battles for the ball against a Hamilton Academical player on November 24
Before her marriage to Hakim, Noor, who was born in Liverpool, was married to a preacher but the relationship ended ‘badly’, the court heard.
The jury heard on the same day as her wedding to Hakim Noor joined a group called The Merciful Hands, which has been described as being Islamic State (ISIS) on Telegram, after he suggested it.
Noor, who at one point accepted in court that some of her views had been stronger than those held by proscribed terrorist groups, was charged with donating $45, around £35, to The Merciful Hands on May 23 last year for the purposes of terrorism.
The former performing arts student, who had a YouTube channel, said now her marriage to Hakim had ended she felt it was ‘stupid’, ‘bad’ and ‘wrong’. ‘I don’t feel proud or happy about it.’