A mother-of-five who encouraged terror attacks on Facebook has been spared jail after a judge told her, "the sooner you get back to your children the better".

Farhana Ahmed, 40, from north-west London, had been in custody since being charged over the 2015 social media posts while her home-schooled children, aged between six and 16, were cared for by relatives.

Judge Christopher Moss QC sentenced her to a suspended term of two years after she pleaded guilty to encouraging terrorism and three counts of disseminating documents.

The judge was "moved" by a letter from her eldest son and told Ahmed: "In your exceptional case, the sooner you are returned to your children, the better for all concerned."

The court had heard how Ahmed had been a "prolific" contributor to a Facebook group, which described itself as a "pro-IS group, the purpose of it is to connect mawhideen brothers from different parts of the world and to help each other".