French public prosecutors on Friday called for Marine Le Pen, the far-Right leader, to be tried for tweeting gruesome images of Isil killings, including the beheading of an American journalist.

It is now up to an investigating judge to decide whether to proceed, but the prosecutors’ recommendation makes a trial more likely.

It increases pressure on Ms Le Pen, who is also facing legal problems over her party’s alleged misuse of European Parliament funds.

Ms Le Pen, a former MEP elected to the French parliament two years ago, posted three images in 2015, one of which showed the beheaded body of James Foley, an American journalist executed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The others showed a Syrian soldier crushed to death under a tank and a Jordanian pilot burned to death in a cage.

Prosecutors also recommended that Gilbert Collard, an MP from Ms Le Pen’s National Rally party, face trial on similar charges. The party was formerly called the National Front.

Ms Le Pen was stripped of her parliamentary immunity and charged last year with “circulating violent pictures likely to be seen by children". If she stands trial and is convicted, she would be liable to a maximum prison sentence of three years and a €75,000 (£64,000) fine.