Hairdresser accused of terror offences blames Bradford husband

Shasta Khan, 38, said alleged reconnaissance trips to Jewish neighbourhoods to scout potential targets for a bomb were at the behest of her husband Sajid.

She also said searches on the internet for terror-related explosives, chemicals and extremist propaganda were also the work of Sajid, 33, who has already admitted terror offences.

Three times married Khan, 38, on trial at Manchester Crown Court, denies any involvement in her husband's terror activities.

It is alleged police found a cache of terror-related material after being called to a domestic dispute at the couple's home in Oldham, last July.

Beheading videos, propaganda glorifying Osama bin Laden, and bomb-making guides were seized along with the peroxide and bleach, used by Khan in her work, which together with electrical equipment were being readied to make an improvised explosive device (IED), it is claimed.

A satnav from her Peugeot 305 showed they had been on multiple trips to Jewish populated areas around Manchester - looking for targets to attack, the prosecution claims.

Simon Drew QC, defending, asked the defendant to explain why she had been driving her husband around Jewish neighbourhoods.

"What I thought was, 'Nothing to do, don't know where I'm going and he's taking me for a drive and he's looking at houses because he's nosy," Khan told the court.

But the defendant also said that after her husband asked her to perform a number of U-turns and drive down the same roads it "didn't seem right".

"But I was always to scared to say anything to him," she added.

Mr Drew then asked about incriminating items found on a laptop and a desktop computer found at the couple's home.

Khan said her husband would use her login details to log on to her own Facebook account and to her eBay account where a search was made for "shotgun cartridges".

The defendant said in any case she "hardly ever" used the laptop so anything on there must have been her husband's doing.

She said she had never seen an "Executions File" downloaded from the internet which contained 71 videos of people being killed.

And she also denied any knowledge of a terrorist handbook or a course manual produced by the Mujahideen.

Khan ran her hairdressing business from the front room of the couple's terraced house in Oldham and the jury have been told that chemicals used in her work such as bleach, acetone and peroxide liquid, were also capable of being transformed along with other household items such as salt and sugar, into homemade explosives such as acetone peroxide.

The defendant said she bought bleach to clean her house and a funnel for use in her salon.

Mr Drew asked about internet searches on the computers for one homemade explosive, potassium chlorate.

"Did you initiate any of these searches?" he asked.

"No," Khan replied.

"Any interest in potassium chlorate?" he asked.

"No," she said.

"Did you know what it was?" he asked.

"No," she said.

The jury was told there was also a perfectly innocent explanation for the large amounts of salt and lo-salt found at the house - salt again being capable of use in homemade explosives.

Khan said on July 11 last year, days before they were arrested, she accompanied her husband to a GP appointment where he was told to lose weight and cut down on his salt intake.

Khan denies engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and three counts of possessing information useful for committing or preparing for an act of terrorism between August 2010 and July last year.

The trial continues.