A man who showed a video of a beheading to two young children has been found guilty of spreading terrorist propaganda.

Zameer Ghumra "brainwashed" the two boys, claiming Islamic State were "not bad people" and asking the children if they wanted to join the terrorist group or help recruit others.

He also instructed them to only have Muslim friends.

The 38-year-old was found guilty of disseminating "terrorist propaganda" in the form of a graphic Twitter video on his mobile phone following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

Ghumra taught the children how to "survive a bomb attack" and fight with knives, giving them sweets to keep them on side, the court heard.


Image: Ghumra arriving at Nottingham Crown Court

The jury heard that the children were told they would have to behead people when they arrived in Syria.

Ghumra was working as a pharmacist in Oundle, Northamptonshire, before being arrested.

Simon Davis, prosecuting, said Ghumra had told a customer that IS were "not bad people - they're only defending themselves".

The defendant, of Haringworth Road in Leicester, followed various IS-linked social media accounts and made the two children follow similar accounts.

Ghumra, who denied the charge, was convicted following an eight-day trial and will be sentenced on Friday.

Image: A business card carried by Ghumra. Pic: North East CTU

The pharmacist stood emotionless as the verdict was read out after two hours of deliberation by the jury.

Ghumra had claimed the children had been put up to "making a false allegation", the prosecution told the court.

The jury was also told Ghumra had online conversations with the radical preacher Anjem Choudary, describing him as a "good man" to the children.

He had sent a tweet to Choudary which said: "The Muslim flag will fly over Downing Street and Buckingham palace will make a great mosque. Can't wait."

Following Ghumra's arrest at Birmingham Airport in September 2015, a computer was seized showing 1,600 search results for terms including "survival knives" and "bushcraft".

Image: A tweet sent by Ghumra. Pic: North East CTU

But when police searched his home, neither the phone containing the beheading video or the video itself was recovered.

Sue Hemming of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Zameer Ghumra tried to brainwash impressionable children with this violent ideology by making one watch beheading videos and urging them both to adopt a hard line religious outlook.

"The CPS case was that he intended to radicalise them in the hope that they would go on to be involved in terrorism.

"The children were brave to give evidence and we would like to thank them for helping to secure this conviction of a dangerous man."