'Lyrical Terrorist' found guilty

A HEATHROW Airport worker has become the first woman in Britain to be convicted under tough new terrorism laws after she dubbed herself the "Lyrical Terrorist" and mused about martyrdom on the back of a shopping docket.

Samina Malik, 23, burst into tears in the dock of the Old Bailey yesterday as a majority jury found her guilty of possessing records likely to be useful for terrorism.

The court heard Malik wrote poems entitled How To Behead and The Living Martyrs, stocked a library of documents useful to terrorists, and was an unlikely but committed Islamic extremist.

On the back of a docket from the airport bookshop beyond passport control where she worked, she wrote: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom".

The court heard she visited a website linked to jailed British cleric Abu Hamza and stored material about weapons at her family home.

On often rambling handwritten notes she wrote about terror opportunities and the desire to join Muslim brothers in firing rocket launchers.

"I want to have the death of a shaheed (martyr). I want the opportunity to take part in the blessed sacred duty of jihad," she wrote on one note.

Malik, from west London, was convicted of possessing records likely to be useful in terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000, but cleared of a separate count.

Judge Peter Beaumont will sentence Malik on December 6.