Burton woman arrested at Heathrow charged with joining Isis and encouraging terrorism on Twitter

A Burton woman will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today (2 July) charged with joining Islamic State (Isis) and encouraging people on Twitter to commit terrorism.

The 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested by officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit at Heathrow Airport in February. She had arrived on a flight from Turkey.

The Crown Prosecution Service charges allege that between 30 September 2014 and 20 October 2014, the woman published a statement, namely a series of tweets, and at the time of publishing, "intended members of the public to be directly encouraged or otherwise induced by the statement to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism, or being reckless as to whether members of the public will be directly or indirectly encouraged or otherwise induced by the statement to commit, prepare or instigate such acts or offences, contrary to Section 1 Terrorism Act 2006".

She is accused of belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely IS, contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000, between 23 October 2014 and 9 January 2015.