'Lyrical terrorist' guilty

She'd claimed her poetry and ramblings about beheadings and martyrdom were just a way of making her feel cool, but the jury thought them much more sinister.

Samina Malik was arrested at her home in Southall last October as part of an investigation by counter terrorism officers. In her room they had found a ring-binder of documents deemed useful to terrorist activity.

Amongst them were the Mujaheddin Poisons Handbook, an A-Z of lethal cocktails, and a technical and support manual for a Dragunov sniper rifle.

In the lounge was a box-file containing A Declaration of War, complete with message from Osama bin Laden.

Police also discovered jottings she'd made whilst working at WH Smiths at Heathrow airport. On a blank till roll, Malik had written extremist ramblings: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom. The need to go increases second by second".

She'd also listed her interests on a social network site as: Helping the Mujaheddin in any way which I can and had sent emails asking how she could make a donation.

One of her poems is called The Living Martyrs and contains strong language: "For the living martyrs are awakening/ And kuffars' world soon to be shaking. Let us make Jihad/ Move to the front line/ To chop chop head of kuffar swine".

Another is titled How to Behead: "No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream/ But ignore the donkey's ass/ And continue to slice back and forth/ You'll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe/ But Don't Stop/ Continue with all your might".

Malik had admitted in court to visiting extremist websites, including that of the controversial cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri's. She claimed to have been exposed to the radical preacher's teachings after stumbling upon this site.

After today's verdict Judge Peter Beaumont told the bailed Malik, under house arrest until her sentencing in early December, "You've been in many respects a complete enigma to me."

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