Jury retires in trial of teenager accused of plotting terror attack in UK

The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a teenager accused of plotting a massacre in the UK after the police prevented her from travelling to Syria to join her jihadi fiance.

Safaa Boular, 18, allegedly plotted a grenade attack on the British Museum after her Islamic State fiance Naweed Hussain was killed before she could join him.

While in custody for allegedly attempting to travel to IS territory, she passed on the baton to her older sister Rizlaine Boular, the Old Bailey heard, and persuaded her to try to carry out the attack.

In calls from jail in April last year she talked about a "party" with her 21-year-old sibling, which was allegedly a code word for a terror attack.

The pair also made reference to a "Mad Hatter" and having an "Alice In Wonderland"-themed tea party, jurors heard.

Over the next three days, Rizlaine and her mother Mina Dich, 43, carried out reconnaissance around major landmarks in Westminster and bought a pack of knives and a rucksack, the court heard.

But on April 27 last year - the day of the proposed knife attack around the Palace of Westminster - police swooped to arrest Rizlaine Boular, jurors were told.

Rizlaine Boular, now 22, of Clerkenwell, central London, has admitted planning a knife attack on London and mother Mina Dich, 44, has pleaded guilty to assisting her.

Safaa Boular, who lived at home with her mother in Vauxhall, south-west London, has denied two counts of preparing acts of terrorism.

She claims that she would discuss the attacks in calls and text messages to her fiance but refused to be part of it, and tried to steer the conversation back to "lovey-dovey" talk.

Since her arrest, the defendant has abandoned her former strict Islamic dress and appeared in the dock in leggings and a sweater.