A mother of three was stopped at Birmingham Airport before boarding a plane to Munich in order to travel to Turkey, where arrangements were made to enter Syria. The family were under observation due to their suspected links with the Islamic State, who were funding her travel arrangements.
After a search of their nine cases at the airport, her phone was found to have Islamic state pictures and despite her claim that they were going on a family holiday to Munich; an itinerary was found revealing her true intentions alongside a list of terrorist’s telephone numbers found inside a painkiller pack.
The children were taken away from the mother and the maternal grandparents were granted custody however, Leicester County Council issued proceedings to place the children in care and away from the influence of the family’s extreme views.
Mr Justice Keehan ruled that due to proven links with Jihadi terrorists, the mother was not seen as being able to care for them as her religious ideology “placed the children at risk of suffering significant harm and probable radicalisation…That included the real possibility of the children being drawn into the war and being placed at risk of death”. It was held that it was in the children’s best interests for them to remain with the grandparents under supervision.
