A drill rapper, who was plotting a mass casualty terror attack, was drawn to a woman who pretended to be a 'devout and pious Muslim', and she was spared jail time.

British Bangladeshi Tasnia Ahmed, 21, knew her partner Al-Arfat Hassan was preparing a bombing or weaponry attack, but she chose not to notify the authorities.

Known as 'Official TS' in his music and possessing 2.5 million social media followers, Hassan, a 21-year-old smoker of marijuana, courted Ahmed and expressed his flattery.

Hassan bought chemicals online to construct an improvised explosive device and had videos showing how to kill a prisoner with knives.

Ahmed, who had been in a relationship with Hassan since 2021, wept loudly in the dock as she was spared jail after earlier being convicted of two counts of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.

Judge Christopher Kinch KC began his sentencing remarks by telling Ahmed that she was not going to be sent to prison.

Relieved Ahmed wept loudly while more than 20 family members and friends in the public gallery celebrated by rising from their seats and hugging each other.

The court previously heard how Ahmed, from Tower Hamlets, had been in a relationship with Hassan since October 2021.

He told her in a message: 'I have to get it done, I know the perfect spot where millions, millions of people are'.

Ahmed told him he would be dying 'for a good cause' adding: 'I'll support you if that's what you really want.'

She also offered to buy him a better knife.

In messages to her cousins she referred to Hassan as 'bomb man' and a 'terrorist.'

Judge Kinch said it was a 'exceptional case' that had 'not been either easy or straightforward'.

He told Ahmed: 'You were convicted...on two counts of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.

'The prosecution accept you were following a persona desired to attract him and keep that interest.

'You were excited at the prospect of a relationship with a young man who was a well-known drill artist who had over two million followers, and that you adopted a supportive persona in your online exchanges to further that relationship.

'The defence on the other hand argue that there was a predatory background to Hassan's actions.

'They point to the fact that you resorted to the desperate measure of creating a false account in the name of a fictitious cousin to explain to Hassan that you were seriously sick in hospital as a device to keep distance from him.

'Any invitation to treat you as a victim yourself would have been more persuasive if you had shown the insight and courage to plead guilty to these offences.'

The judge said Ahmed's case lacked the 'added element of gravity and danger that must be present when someone shares the main offenders mindset and is motivated by a desire to assist a terrorist or potential terrorist in achieving their aims.

'Other than reference to possible days of the week, there was no information that you had about a potential date, about a location or locations, or about people or groups who were being targeted.

'No information about any workshop or storage arrangements that might have been made, nor about who was providing any assistance to Hassan.

'Had any report been made by you, it seems to me the these would be the first areas you would have been questioned on, and you could not have provided answers because your information did not cover those issues.'

Judge Kinch said Ahmed 'secretive' behaviour resulted from 'pushing against the boundaries of a restrictive home environment.

'When you wanted to report him to the 'feds', as you put it, you were worried about your parents finding out about an illicit relationship with a boy, and conversations with other young women of your acquaintance did nothing to inject common sense or realism into that situation.

'You are clearly an intelligent young women. Despite your educational accomplishments I've formed the view that you were decidedly immature even for your young years.

'It does appear to me that the offences here are so serious that neither a fine nor community sentence can be justified.

'In order to reflect the mitigating factors I have identified I ought to reduce the custodial term, in your case particularly to reflect the lack of maturity and the length of time that has passed before the case has come up for sentence, and reduce the the custodial term to one of 12 months imprisonment.

'I am satisfied that this is an exceptional case where it would be right and just to suspend the sentence of imprisonment.'

Ahmed, wearing a green knitted top and black headscarf, was greeted outside the courtroom by cheering family and friends after she was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC earlier said Ahmed 'created and adopted a persona in which she played a devout and pious Muslim woman in order to attract and keep (Hassan's) attention and to enter into a relationship with him.

'Her motive in adopting a persona appears to be her desire, at least at some points, to have engaged in a relationship with someone who appeared to be dangerous.

'The defendant was willing to overlook and indeed at times encourage information disclosed to her by Hassan about his plans to commit a mass casualty terrorist attack.

'Those plans, of course disclosed to her, included use of explosives or bladed weapons.'

Ahmed also told Hassan in a phone-call on 10 February 2022 that he 'made her life not boring' but warned him: 'Don't go full on red'.

Mr Sandiford said the information received and not reported by Ahmed was 'very significant' because Hassan was 'planning to commit a mass casualty terrorist attack using bombs or bladed weapons'.

Hassan's lyrics showed 'growing immersion in Islamic ideology and extreme violence perpetrated by terrorist groups'.

According to the prosecution his 'music and his social media posts led to him becoming engaged in text conversations with young fans.

'He consistently expressed support for violent jihad and repeatedly spoke of his desire to die as a martyr in a terrorist attack.

'He described himself as explosively violent, an extremist and a terrorist.

'He would threaten carnage by blowing himself up in a public place.

'He appeared to become increasingly obsessed with the idea of dying as a martyr by killing himself and others by carrying out a suicide bombing.'

Sameer had assisted him with the creation of one of his music videos, the court heard.

They became friends online and both became radicalised.

The court also heard that Hassan and his friend Sameer Anjum, 17, used 'cupcakes' and cupcake emojis as code for bombs and 'calories' as code for how explosive they were.

They had been exchanging extremist messages, graphics and voice notes almost daily over a number of months, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Jurors were shown detailed messages in which Anjum's mum Nabeela Anjum, 48, pleaded with her son to stop communicating with Hassan and told him 'please get rid of everything from your phone*'

On 16 February 2022 Hassan had contacted Sameer suggesting he was about to undertake a suicide bombing.

Sameer attempted to persuade him not to go ahead and asked his mother to buy him a train ticket to London but did not tell the police.

Hassan later recorded a video of himself dressed all in black with a knife in a seat where he said 'need to go out looking good though, final moment, life took a very great turn.'

He then showed the camera the two chemicals.

In another video he said: 'You lot gonna miss the music man, we've all gotta go one day you know what I'm saying?'

He was arrested on 27 February 2022 at Heathrow Airport as he was about to board a flight to Bangladesh.

After reading about Hassan's arrest on the news Sameer deleted messages between them and 140 extremist videos.

Kirsty Brimelow KC, defending, had Ahmed, was a 'victim' of Hassan, who she described as a 'predator'.

Ms Brimelow continued: 'She was vulnerable, she was isolated, she was flattered by his attention.

'He sought out young women*he was communicating with more than one female admirer at the time, he smoked cannabis, mixed with his uncovered female customers and in that respect Miss Ahmed was correct in that she didn't take him seriously - she thought he was a fake.

'She messaged him with a joking message and then he (replies) straight back, and she finds it flattering that a man with 2.5 million followers would then respond.'

Ms Brimelow said Ahmed exhibited 'no terrorism or extremist mindset' and that conversations between the two largely consisted of 'very banal and childish communications'.

She said Hassan became 'controlling' and threatened 'to inform her parents of their relationship'.

She read out a message sent by Ahmed to Hassan that read: 'Would you hurt my family if you stopped loving me?'.

'She became in a situation where she didn't know what to do', Ms Brimelow said.

'This is not a case where somebody was left a plan, left a suicide note, was shown certain items.'

Hassan, of Enfield, north London, earlier admitted possession of acetone and hydrogen peroxide for the purposes of terrorism between 12 January and 4 March 2022.

He denied but was convicted of possession of a video called 'You Must Fight Them' likely to be useful for preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

The video included instructions for planning a terror attack, how to kill people with knives and how to make explosives including using acetone and hydrogen peroxide to make acetone peroxide or TATP using lightbulbs as a detonator.

Hassan was earlier sentenced to five years in a Young Offenders Institution with an extended license period of two years.

Sameer, of Leeds, admitted failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism by failing to tell police information about Hassan.

He was sentenced to two and a half years in a Young Offenders Institution with an extended license period of 12 months.

Ahmed was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for a period of two years.

On each count a further period of 12 months licence was added to create a 'special custodial sentence of two years length' without any time in custody.

The 21-year-old was ordered to undertake 60 rehabilitation requirement days and to perform unpaid work for a total of 150 hours.

She was also made subject to a GPS trail monitoring requirement and told to pay the appropriate statutory charge.

Registration requirements lasting 10 years were also applied as an automatic consequence of the sentence.