Birmingham wife ‘helped husband prepare for terror attack’

A heavily pregnant woman bought a hunting knife and a ‘life size training dummy’ to help her husband prepare for a deadly terror attack, a court heard.

Madihah Taheer allegedly paid £275 for a plastic torso, commonly used as a ‘training opponent’ by martial arts practitioners and a £120 Cold Steel Leatherneck knife online for her husband Ummariyat Mirza, 21.

Woolwich Crown Court heard Mirza promised to launch a knife attack as a wedding present for his wife and the pair argued about who was more radical.

Jurors heard Mirza has admitted preparing to commit terrorist acts while his 21-year-old wife denies the offence.

Two years before they bought the knife, Taheer told Mirza that she was desperate to travel to Syria after reading a woman’s account of life with ISIS, adding: ‘OMG man. She made me want it so bad.’

They bickered about who was more radical on March 12, 2015 and Taheer wrote: ‘I saw a pic of our khalifa [leader] months before u did therefor I am more radical,’

Mirza protested: ‘I’m more radical than u, I took u in. I introduced u to dawla and Twitter and jihad. Ur my student.’

Taheer sat in the dock dressed in a white gown with a black hijab as prosecutor John McGuinness QC told jurors she married Mirza in April 2016.

Her husband was arrested on 29 March this year and Taheer was at home at their home in St Agatha’s Road when police visited the address. 

When he wanted to spend £300 on a knife, she complained that they had bills to pay and needed to buy clothes for their baby.

As Taheer got into an argument on Facebook with another couple on September 5 2015, he responded: ‘I would end up killing everyone. Imagine if we were married man.’

Taheer wrote: ‘Can we get married already ffs I want u to kill ppl for me, I have a list.’

Ummariyat Mirza, 21, has admitted preparing to commit terrorist acts while his 21-year-old wife denies the offence

He told her: ‘The day of nikkah [wedding], I’ll kill em all. Give me the list, the only thing that stops me is we are not married. I will defo, I’m not joking.’

She responded: ‘Lool, u can’t have it til u put a ring on it.’

On October 1 Mirza commented about the same person: ‘I legit want to stab him 27 times, like really fast ones, like brutal an fast. Trust me.’

She responded: ‘Sounds so satisfying.’ He added: ‘It’s my dream, the method.’

‘OMG mine too,’ she responded, adding: ‘Not stab 27 times but to hurt/kill him in some way.’

Mirza explained: ‘Stabbing kuffar [non-believers]/munafiq [hypocrites] fastly and brutally is my dream. I have a knife I want u to buy me.’

Taheer said she did not have the money but she used her mother’s money to buy him a dummy made of neoprene, asking on May 31: ‘Has my gift come?’

When he hurt his hand punching it, Mirza complained he wanted one made of plastisol.

‘I’m telling you wallah [I swear to god], I know I won’t use this one as much as the other. I know the difference in feeling. Same way I like hitting u. It’s fun, it feels nice to hit skin, to feel flesh contort under the force.’

By January 12, Mirza was pressing to buy a knife, writing that he was ‘just chilling gunna order my knife today inshaAllah [god willing]’ adding: ‘What weapon shall I get? I don’t need ur suggestions actually.’

But Taheer, who was pregnant, complained: ‘It’s so much money Ummar, is it really necessary to spend that much? We’ve got bills to pay man, baby’s thing to get. Have to be sensible and think with a straight head. Can u not use any dishum [knife]. It doesn’t have to be bloody state of the art.’

‘This isnt a fantasy, its real. Wallahi [I swear] its real as it gets,’ Mirza replied.

‘Its just going to sit at home Ummar, Ur not gonna carry it around with u all the time. Imagine if u get caught with it, or it falls out, £300 is not a joke Ummar. Is there not a cheaper one u could buy? They all do the same friggin thing Ummar, u don’t need to spend £300 on one.’

He responded: ‘K.’

Mr McGuiness told the jury: ‘She’s not complaining about the fact that he is buying a knife or what it is for, but at a time when money is tight she is asking if it’s necessary to spend so much money on the knife.’

Taheer, from Birmingham, denies one count of preparation to commit acts of terrorism at Woolwich Crown Court (pictured)

Chemical analysis proved that marks on the dummy came from the plastic training knife.

‘The prosecution suggest that the expert evidence is consistent with the plastic knife being used to thrust and stab at the training dummy and at what, for a real person, would be vulnerable parts of the body,’ Mr McGuiness said.

Mr McGuinness told the court Taheer was not initially arrested in March. 

He said: ‘She was not arrested at that stage as the police had no reason then to suspect that she had committed a criminal offence.

‘She was also at the time seven months pregnant. The police took possession of her black iPhone 5.

‘Following the arrest of the defendant’s husband, the police set about examining the contents of the phones and the Apple iPad that the defendant and her husband used.

‘As a result of their examination of these devices, the police decided they would need to arrest this defendant as well.

‘She was of course heavily pregnant and so by arrangement on 24 April Mrs Taheer attended a police station in Birmingham with her solicitor and was arrested at the counter.

‘She is charged on a single count. The allegation is that between 12 February and 30 March she committed an offence linked to terrorism.

‘The prosecution say that her husband, intended to commit terrorist acts in the UK and he engaged in conduct in preparation for carrying out his intention.

‘There is no doubt that Mirza did intend to commit terrorist acts in the UK and that he engaged in conduct in preparation for carrying out his intention.

‘He conducted online research on potential targets and victims of terrorist acts and on the means of committing such acts.

‘He did this by using his mobile phone, using the internet and visiting websites.

‘Second, he purchased a training knife and then a real, and lethal knife.

‘Withing three months before his arrest, be bought first a plastic training knife – the reason for this, was to practise on a life size training dummy he had bought in 2016.

‘Having acquired the practice knife, they then bought the real thing – a large steel knife that cost over £120.

‘He then bought an item called a paracord, from which he could make a harness that he could attach to the knife, with the idea of concealing it on his person, to bring it out for quick use.

‘The prosecution say that Madiha Taheer intended to assist her husband to commit acts of terrorism within the UK.

‘The prosecution alleges that she assisted her husband to purchase the large steel knife that cost over £120 by using her credit card to buy the knife.

‘Not only did she know what her card was being used to buy, but she also knew why her husband wanted the knife.

‘It is anticipated that Mrs Taheer does not dispute she bought the knife for her husband.

‘Indeed not only did she buy the steel knife on her card, she had also bought for him in 2016 the life-size training dummy, and also the plastic training knife.’

Taheer, from Birmingham, denies one count of preparation to commit acts of terrorism.

The trial continues.