Amaani Noor had married a jihadi fighter online and wanted to join him in Syria

>Amaani Noor arrives at Liverpool Crown Court this week. She was convicted by a majority of 10 to two ( PA )

A former beauty queen has been found guilty of funding terrorism after sending her online “husband” £35.

Amaani Noor had attempted to join the Islamist fighter in Syria and prosecutors accused her of supporting violent jihad and sharia law.

The 21-year-old told Liverpool Crown Court she had become increasingly religious after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, who was a Premier League footballer at the time.

She entered beauty competitions and became a finalist in the Miss Teen Great Britain pageant in 2014.

Noor said she had begun to focus on her religion after her relationship with a footballer in the “public eye” ended when she was 18.

She initially underwent a religious wedding ceremony with a Muslim preacher at her home in Wavertree, and they planned to move to Saudi Arabia before the marriage failed.

The court heard that Noor then started discussing extremist organisations with people she met on the internet.

Her trial was read messages between Noor and 28-year-old Victoria Webster, who previously pleaded guilty to three counts of funding terrorism.

Noor, a former performing arts student, accepted some of the views she expressed in them appeared “harder” than views of Isis.

She said she had wanted to find out about the organisations to decide whether or not to support them.

Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform, became one of the main hubs for international communications by Isis and other jihadi groups in the Syrian civil war.

In messages, Webster, 28, of Nelson in Lancashire, described the group Noor’s husband fought for as Isis.

But Noor claimed he described himself as an “independent” fighter in Syria and she believed he was fighting for Islam and sharia law.

She had planned to join him, she said, and on the day police searched her house had tickets booked to Turkey.

The court heard Noor made a $45 (£35) donation using the name Margaret Allen to an organisation called The Merciful Hands, via Paypal, in May 2018.