The wife of a white Muslim convert jailed for terrorism today admitted failing to provide information that might have helped in his arrest and prosecution.
Ayan Hadi, 31, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to failing to help catch her husband Richard Dart, jailed for six years in April for “engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism”.
She admitted that between July 1 and July 6, 2011 she had information she knew or believed would assist in apprehending him. Hadi, from Acton, will be sentenced on August 16 and judge Mr Justice Sweeney told her: “All sentencing options remain firmly open.”
The Old Bailey was told that former BBC security guard Dart and fellow conspirator Jahingar Alom travelled to Pakistan to try to get terrorist training.Dart, the son of teachers, also discussed bomb-making with another plotter, Imran Mahmood, and military repatriation town Royal Wootton Bassett was picked as a potential target.
Police discovered fragments of text on his laptop that revealed the pair had used it to have a “silent conversation” to avoid possible surveillance bugs — opening a Word document and taking turns to type, then deleting the text.
They mistakenly assumed none of it would be stored on the machine but forensic experts worked through 2,000 pages of computer code to decipher what was said, including references to Wootton Bassett. Dart had refused to stand when he was sentenced, along with Alom and Mahmood, saying: “I don’t wish to stand up. I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah.”
Dart, who changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani, became involved in extremism after moving from his home town Weymouth to east London and fraternising with radical preacher Anjem Choudary. He featured in a TV documentary My Brother The Islamist by his stepbrother Robb Leech.
