A former beauty contestant and ex-girlfriend of a Liverpool footballer has been convicted of funding terrorism.

Amaani Noor was found guilty of donating $45 (£34) to an organisation called The Merciful Hands via Paypal knowing it may be used for the purposes of terrorism.

The 21-year-old, who denied the charge, had married an Islamist fighter online and planned to join him in Syria, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Image: Amaani Noor (right) pictured arriving at Liverpool Crown Court

She used to date Sheyi Ojo, the Liverpool winger and former England youth player who is currently on loan at Rangers, and the pair had posed for newspaper photos together.

On Thursday, Noor sobbed in the dock as the jury delivered their guilty verdict, while her mother left the court in tears.


Noor, a former Miss Teen GB semi-finalist, claimed she gave the money believing it would be used to buy food for women and children in Syria.

She told the court she started to focus on her religion, Islam, after she broke up from an unfaithful boyfriend, who she did not name in court but said was "in the public eye", when she was 18.

Image: Sheyi Ojo, pictured playing for Liverpool in 2018, is currently on loan at Rangers

She began discussing extremist organisations with people she met on the internet following a failed marriage to a Muslim preacher, who she had planned to move to Saudi Arabia with.

The jury were read messages Noor exchanged with a man called Kareem Scent L and a woman called Victoria Webster, who has pleaded guilty to three counts of fundraising contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

Image: Amaani Noor has been convicted of funding terrorism

Noor accepted some of the views she expressed in them appeared "harder" than the views of the Islamic State terror group.

The court heard she married her IS fighter husband, who communicated with her on the Telegram app using the name Hakim My Love, in a video-link ceremony on her 20th birthday.

She said he described himself as an "independent" fighter in Syria and she believed he was fighting for Islam and Sharia law.

Noor told the court she planned to join him and on the day police searched her house had tickets booked to Turkey.

She and Webster will be sentenced on 20 December.

Noor was released on bail with conditions including a curfew, an electronic tag and the surrender of her passport.