An alleged Islamic State-inspired terror plotter has claimed he sent gory videos to the Kilburn woman he courted to show her the "news", jurors have heard.

Asylum seeker Munir Mohammed, 36, had met chemist Rowaida El Hassan, 33, through a Muslim dating website.

Mr Mohammed is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of planning a bomb or ricin attack on British soil with the help of Ms El Hassan, after they allegedly became close and shared an ideology despite living apart in Derby and north-west London.

The prosecution alleges Mr Mohammed drew on Ms El Hassan's professional knowledge as he assembled ingredients for explosives before his arrest in December last year.

But giving evidence, Mr Mohammed denied being a supporter of IS objectives and methods.

His lawyer Charles Bott QC asked: "Why was it necessary in the context of free debate and discussion to send videos to Ms El Hassan depicting violence and death?"

The defendant said: "Unfortunately, I do not have the program which allows me to edit the videos to cut the violent bits out.

"[It was] mainly for the news that I had been sending these videos to her."

Mr Bott asked about his relationship with Ms El Hassan and what sort of "friendship" they had enjoyed.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Mohammed, who is originally from Eritrea, said: "My intention is to marry her.

"I got to know her better. That's normal. This is what I did. That was the type of friendship I had with her."

Mr Mohammed is on trial at the Old Bailey

He told jurors he had wanted to convey on the dating website that he was a "clean" type of person who had not done "bad deeds".

And her profile stating she was looking for a "very simple, honest and straightforward man who fears Allah before anything else" expressed a similar sentiment, the defendant added.

Accused wanted to get news 'from all directions'

Mr Mohammed said they had seen each other in London two or three times, meeting up in a park.

He told jurors he had looked at IS material because he wanted to get the news "from all directions".

His lawyer asked: "Did you ever say in your conversations with El Hassan that Isis was right?"

The former Kerry Foods factory worker said he would sometimes say it was "part of the reality or the truth" and at other times it was to "cover up the truth to divulge the news they wanted to say".

An example of IS telling the truth was its "charity activities" and "support for orphans", he said.

Divorcees Mr Mohammed, of Leopold Street, Derby, and Ms El-Hassan, of Willesden Lane, north-west London, deny preparing terrorist acts between November 2015 and December 2016.

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