School dinner girl turned ISIS terrorist given second mugshot after plot to ‘martyr herself’
A woman who worked as a dinner lady in a school has been convicted of terror offences, as police release a second mugshot in a head covering as per her request in court
Another mugshot of the woman charged with terror offences after planning a trip to Afghanistan with her children has been released after she requested another.
In her first, Farishta Jami, from Stratford-upon-Avon, did not wear a head covering. After complaining to officials, police took and released another mugshot of her wearing a niqab. Jami was due to be sentenced today, but the process has been adjourned in order for a pre-sentence report from the probation service to be prepared about Jami.
On Friday afternoon, West Midlands Police shared a new image from custody with just Farishta Jami’s eyes visible beneath a full head covering. This follows her defence barrister, Matthew Brook KC, telling the judge his client had been upset to see the earlier mugshot.
In that image, issued following ‘observant’ Muslim Jami’s conviction on Thursday, she was seen with her long dark hair uncovered and tied back. The lawyer told Leicester Crown Court: “Reports of the verdicts yesterday used an image of my client, released by the police, in which her head wasn’t covered.
“This has caused her some considerable distress and the police are going to release a different image. We would request that is used instead.”
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, the judge, claimed she could not make an official order on which image could be used by the press.
Jami was convicted on Thursday (February 13) on two counts of preparing acts of terrorism between September 1, 2022 and January 10, 2024.
According to court proceedings, Jami planned to use £1,200 in cash savings to buy one-way flights to Afghanistan for her and her four children.
Warwickshire Police swooped in when they uncovered the 36-year-old’s grim plot to “martyr herself” and her kids. Officers told Leicester Crown Court how she had also researched weaponry and gathered information relating to the assembly and disassembly of an AK-47 rifle.
She also had around 7,000 videos stored, several of which showed children being used as suicide bombers. Jami was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on charges brought under section 5 of the 2006 Terrorism Act on Thursday.
The court was told the mum had planned on travelling to the Middle East to join the affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, Isis-K.
Jami had shared graphic and violent extremist material on social media, including videos, documents and images as well as participating in multiple group chats and channels supporting the terrorists.
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