A Hounslow woman is facing jail after encouraging a Facebook friend to go to Syria to fight for an Islamic terror group.

The Old Bailey heard how 22-year-old Angela Shafiq, of Orchid Gardens, trawled the social networking site looking for people with "Muslim-sounding names".

She found postal worker Mohammed Nahin Ahmed, 23, and the pair discussed marriage and travelling to war-torn Syria, where Ahmed hoped to join the Jihadi group Kataib al Muhajireen.

Despite the pair never meeting in real life, Shafiq advised Ahmed to get a first aid certificate so he could pretend to be an aid worker and helped him to renew his passport before he left the UK with childhood pal Yusuf Zubair Sarwar, 23, in May 2013.

Ahmed and Sarwar, from Birmingham, were arrested when they returned to Britain in January last year.

They claimed they had been doing humanitarian work and had never fought - but thousands of photos showed the pair posing with guns and next to war-torn buildings.

Traces of military grade explosives including TNT were found on their clothes and a "detailed step-by-step demonstration of how to construct an improvised explosive device" was also recovered.

The pair were each jailed for 12 years and eight months in December at Woolwich Crown Court, after admitting a single joint count of preparing to commit terrorist acts.

'Troubled'

Shafiq, who claims never to have been a practicing Muslim, said it was just "bad luck" that she got chatting to Ahmed online, and claimed to have had no idea of his terror plans.

But following her conviction on Friday (July 31) for preparation of terrorist acts, which she had denied, Judge Stephen Kramer QC said: “I’m troubled by this young lady.”

The court heard Shafiq gave Admed advice during online Skype text chats while he was preparing to travel to Syria between December 2012 and May 2013. Ahmed told her he was going to join Kataib al Muhajireen and said: “Dey give u weapon training...Wah else can u ask for? [sic].”

He also boasted there was a picture of him on Facebook “wid a gun nd shahada logo”.

Prosecutor Christopher Hehir said: “Angela Shafiq had sought to help Nahin Ahmed by giving him practical advice about getting to Syria without arousing too much suspicion.

"She was suggesting that if he went on a first aid course and got a certificate, he could pass himself off as an aid worker, someone going to help people, rather than as the would-be fighter he actually was.”

Just before midnight on May 14 2013 Ahmed messaged her from a hotel, near Heathrow Airport, close to Shafiq’s west London home, where he was preparing to fly out to Turkey the next morning.

Officers from the West Midlands counter terrorism force visited Shafiq’s address on February 6 last year after Ahmed and Sarwar were arrested following their return to the UK.

Shafiq was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on September 8.