Accused bomb plotter 'was already married before meeting woman online'

Munir Mohammed is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of planning a bomb or ricin attack in the UK

An asylum seeker accused of plotting a terror attack with the help of a woman he met on a dating site had a wife abroad to whom he sent Islamic State propaganda, a court heard.

The Old Bailey was told that in 2015 Munir Mohammed married a woman in Sudan who he has never met.

Mr Mohammed, 36, from Derby, met his divorced co-defendant Rowaida El-Hassan, 33, from north-west London, on a Muslim dating website.

They deny preparing terrorist acts.

Munir Mohammed and Rowaida El-Hassan met on a dating website

The court heard that in 2015, Mr Mohammed, of Leopold Street, Derby, married a woman in Sudan who he has still not met.

The jury were shown a series of Whatsapp and telegram messages between them, which included material produced by so-called Islamic State and stories generated by the group's news agencies.

One message telling her about a chat group ended with the hashtag #support_islamic_state, and others show him apparently claiming religious justification for actions including burning people and cutting the throat of prisoners.

'Normal dialogue'

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Mohammed said the messages between himself and others were "a mere transmission of news and jokes - chat essentially".

Asked by Tim Moloney QC, representing co-defendant Ms El-Hassan, of Willesden Lane, north-west London, if he had been trying to get his wife to agree with him, Mr Mohammed said: "It is not my view - this is God's view and opinion."

When Judge Michael Topolski QC asked if he agreed with the justifications set out in the messages, he said: "100% I agree. This is what Islam is."

Mr Moloney asked the defendant if he had tried to get his co-defendant Ms El-Hassan - who the prosecution said had "rapidly formed [an] emotional attachment and a shared ideology" with Mr Mohammed soon after they met - to support Islamic State.

Mr Mohammed said he has "nothing to do" with the group, adding that the "vast majority" of conversations between himself and others were "normal dialogue".

The trial continues.