You’re going to see me in the news, said girl who tried to flee to Isil

A BRITISH schoolgirl who intended to travel to Syria to work as a nurse supporting Islamic terrorists asked teachers to sign her passport photos.

Sandeep Samra, from Coventry, reportedly joked with teachers, “Miss, you are going to see me in the news,” and asked for help with getting a passport before she was arrested, a court heard. The 18-year-old was brought up Sikh before converting to Islam aged 15, but had not told her family, Birmingham Crown Court heard. She admitted attempting to travel to Syria between June 1 and July 31 last year and pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts.

She denied intending to carry out acts of violence, explaining that she had wanted to leave the UK after members of an anti-extremism team informed her family she had changed religion. The teenager also stressed that she had not talked about hurting anyone in discussions on social media.

Prosecutors allege online messages show Samra – who claims she only planned to help the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as a nurse – was “going for death” and intended to die for the cause.

In messages she wrote: “I want to go, Inshallah [God willing] if it’s still possible – at least our nurses can help soldiers and stuff, I really want to go.” Samra applied for her first passport in September 2015 but it was handed to the police by her father a month later after teachers became concerned and reported her.

The teen applied again in June last year before she was arrested and had her phone seized, which revealed plans to travel to Syria.

Emma Shuttleworth, who worked at Lyng Hall School, said Samra had “frantically” called to ask for the assistant head teacher to countersign her passport photos, adding that she had become “impatient, frustrated and rude” after the request was not carried out.

Two telephones were taken from Samra, one in October 2015, the other was seized in July 2017.

Messages seen in court show Samra describing how she preferred watching shooting executions over beheading videos, but if it was “someone like [Barack] Obama, I wouldn’t care”. She also spoke with an unidentified person using an Arabic translator last year, writing: “I need a passport. If infidels know you support, they take your passport. Britain is very strict. We should meet to marry in Oman to go to Syria together, God willing.” In a prepared statement presented to the court, Samra said she had also considered going to India and Dubai to continue her nursing studies. The trial continues.