Dinner girl unmasked as terrorist deliberate to martyr children – 5 greatest revelations from case
A former school dinner lady was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on on charges brought under section 5 of the 2006 Terrorism Act, after she planned to martyr herself and her kids
Former school dinner lady, Farishta Jami has been branded a terrorist by a court and is set to be sentenced under the 2006 Terrorism Act.
The mum, from Stratford-upon-Avon, was arrested after police were made aware of her plans to flee the country with her children and join ISIS.
The court heard evidence from a number of bodies, with some truly shocking information being brought to light, the Mirror reports.
Of all the revelations that were shared at the court case, which took place on Friday 14 February, these are the five biggest:
Martyr
The court heard that the 36-year-old had planned to ‘martyr herself’ along with her four children, after she had returned to Afghanistan.
Jami was born in Afghanistan and moved to the UK in 2008 to live with her husband, the court was told.
Extremist videos
It was also revealed that the disgraced mum had around 7,000 videos saved, in several of which, in shocking footage children were seen being used as suicide bombers.
Children removed
As a result of the horrifying findings, it was revealed in court that due to concerns about the children’s safety, police had removed Jami’s children from her care.
The children were removed from Jami’s care to help protect them from something which could have cost them their lives.
One-way flights
According to Warwickshire Police, the former school dinner lady had saved up £1,200 to pay for one-way flights to Afghanistan for herself and her children, so that they could join Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).
Graphic content
The court was also told how Jami had shared graphic and violent extremist material on social media between September 1 2022 and January 10 2024.
In addition, it was revealed that she was an administrator on a number of social media groups associated with ISKP. Some of these groups had over 700 members and instructional videos were shared on how to make devices for ISKP.
When detectives searched her home, they found and seized several devices, along with 30 sim cards in a bag that were found stuffed down the side of her bed. They also revealed that the mum had been trying to conceal passports.
Superintendent Darren Webster, Head of specialist operations for Warwickshire Police, said: “This was a complex case interlinking terrorism and serious criminal offences, and we welcome the outcome today.
“Jami’s actions had the potential for real-world implications, and the harm they could have caused cannot be underestimated. Thankfully, with an excellent partnership between West Midlands Counter Terrorism Police and ourselves, we were able to prevent this.”
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands Detective Chief Superintendent Alison Hurst added: “We welcome today’s verdict, Jami was determined to travel to join ISIS, despite claiming she was planning to visit family, but we found no evidence of any contact with her family to arrange a visit to see them in Afghanistan or Pakistan.”
On Thursday, Jami was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on Thursday on charges brought under section 5 of the 2006 Terrorism Act.
Jami was due to be sentenced yesterday, Friday 14 February, but it was adjourned in order for a pre-sentence report from the probation service to be prepared about her.
She will now be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
Police issued a new mugshot of the convicted terrorist after she had complained that the original mugshot showed her without a head covering.
The police released a new image of Jami wearing a niqab with just her eyes visible following her defence barrister Matthew Brook KC telling the judge that she had been upset by the earlier mugshot.
He 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.”
The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, stated she could not make an order and left it to the media to decide which image to use in publications.
