Terror plot couple turned on each other in court

                               Mohammed Rehman, left and his wife Sana Ahmed Khan.

SHE grew up in wealthy suburban family with dreams of becoming a teacher — but Sana Ahmed Khan will never get to put her English degree into action.

The popular and bubbly 24-year-old will see out the next two decades in jail, sentenced to 25 years for plotting terrorist acts with her husband Mohammed Rehman, 25.
This week, the pair who married in a secret ceremony in October 2013, turned on each other in court, each claiming the other was responsible for plans to commit horrific attacks in the UK.
Khan begged the judge for forgiveness in a handwritten letter, saying she had never seen her husband’s “true character”.
Lawyers for Rehman painted him as a hapless addict manipulated by a devout jihadi bride into a violent and elaborate plan.
But Justice Baker was having none of it, telling the court he was “satisfied” both of them had their own “theological justification” for the terror they committed.
Husband and wife were jailed for 27 and 25 years respectively in a case that police hope acts as a deterrent to anyone considering the same. Here’s how it all went down:

The couple who secretly married in 2013 ended up turning on each other in open court. Picture: Thames Valley Police.Source:Supplied

‘NOTHING MORE I COULD DESIRE’
It was 2007 when the pair first met in the small town west of London where the Khans lived.
The “multi-religious” middle class family was sceptical of Rehman, who was one year older than their popular and bubbly daughter and had taken an “interest” in her. Khan’s mother Saleen, a local magistrate and father Javed, a chauffeur, banned their daughter from seeing the boy they had heard such bad things about.
“We were very, very much against this young man,” Saleen Khan, 56, told the court. “I explained to her, we don’t know who this individual is or his background. Asian marriages are often about two families coming together and that’s how marriages are often very, very successful.
“I was very concerned that what I had heard from the community about Mr Rehman was very, very negative, therefore I didn’t see him as the right choice for my daughter.”
But there was nothing the family could do to stop Rehman pursing their daughter. The former Tesco worker wrote to Saleen from jail describing Sana as “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“The minute I laid eyes on her, there was nothing more than I could desire from life, than to be with her forever,” he wrote. “I did everything that I possibly could, even from without my capabilities, to facilitate a way for us to be together.”

Rehman’s social media account. Picture: Thames Valley Police.Source:Supplied

In October 2013 the couple married in secret and although living separately, slipped into a radical world online fuelled by copious amounts of cannabis and cocaine.
In court this week it emerged Khan had paid Rehman more than $24,000 from her salary and payday loans so he could buy drugs and ingredients for homemade explosives. Text messages revealed pet names like “cheeky bon bon” and details of their search history showed how they had investigated the Islamic State and read propaganda from IS magazine Dabiq.
It was when Rehman started tweeting about attacks under the name Silent Bomber that police began to monitor their activities. Once he asked for advice on whether to attack the underground or a Westfield shopping centre, while another tweet said his house was rigged with explosives and “nobody gets in the way of my jihad”.
The couple were arrested in May 2015, believed to be days away from completing a device to carry out an attack on the tenth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings on London’s transport network that killed 52 and injured 770. back in 2005.

Weapons found in their possession. Picture: Thames Valley PoliceSource:Supplied

In court this week, the couple turned on each other with Khan’s lawyer saying her client believed Rehman was using the money for drugs rather than explosives.
Khan sent the judge a heartfelt letter saying she was in an “abusive and controlling relationship and using drugs every day.”
“I desperately wanted to stop because I could see how it was starting to affect me negatively, especially my mental state,” she said.
Meanwhile Rehman’s lawyer painted his client as “one of life’s losers” who was manipulated by his wife. He said the former Tesco worker and pizza delivery man was a pathetic and isolated figure with his world view restricted to drugs and Khan.
In interviews with police, Rehman said the idea of jail appealed to him as he had nothing else to do and he was seduced by the Islamic State depiction of freedom and weapons.
“I disagreed with the fact that they’re just killing a lot of people … but it’s the fact that they can actually get out there, make a name for themselves and just do what they’re doing and just keep at it” he said.
After the trial, Rehman was found guilty on two counts of preparing acts for terrorism while Khan was found guilty of one.
The UK’s South East Counter Terrorism Unit assistant chief Constable Laura Nicholson said she hopes the severe sentence will serve as a deterrent for others.
“Anyone intending to travel to Syria to fight or to commit terrorist acts against the UK or our interests should be in no doubt that the police will take the strongest possible action against them.
“We hope this shows that we continue to work tirelessly and at pace to confront the threat posed by terrorism and keep the public safe