British mother jailed for six years after being found guilty of joining Islamic State

A British mother has been sentenced to six years after being found guilty of taking her toddler son to Syria to join the Islamic State terror group (IS) and encouraging terrorism.

Tareena Shakil, 26, is thought to be the first British woman to be convicted of terrorism offences after returning from Syria.

As he delivered his sentence, Judge Melbourne Inman said Shakil was "well aware of the terrible violence inflicted by ISIS" when she supported them on social media.

The judge also described Shakil's decision to involve her young son as "most alarming".

He described photographs taken of the toddler wearing an IS-branded balaclava and standing next to an AK47 as the "most abhorrent".

He told Shakil: "You were well aware that the future which you had subjected your son to was very likely to be indoctrination and thereafter life as a terrorist fighter."

The judge added that she told "lie after lie" to police and the courts after returning to the UK last year.

Watch Shakil claim to have made a dramatic escape from Syria to police

Jailing her for four years for membership and two years to run consecutively for encouraging acts of terror, the judge said there had to be "an element of deterrence" to discourage others from joining terrorist organisations.

Tareena's father told ITV News "the whole case is wrong" and the fact that his daughter returned to the UK should have been taken into consideration.

Mohammed Shakil also said he was confident that if the opportunity arises for the case to be put before an appeal judge "and they so get the chance to see it all", he believed his daughter "will get not guilty".