The sister of a would-be suicide bomber who targeted an Israeli bar actively encouraged him to carry out the attack, an Old Bailey court heard today.

Parveen Sharif sent e-mails to her brother Omar Sharif urging him to be "firm and focused with reality as time is slipping away" just days before Mr Sharif was due to blow himself up.

Mr Sharif’s body was found off the coast of Tel Aviv after his bomb failed to detonate.

His accomplice, Asif Hanif, 21, from Hounslow, West London, killed himself and three other people and injured 65 others in Mike’s Bar, Tel Aviv, on April 30 last year. They were the first suicide bombers to come from Britain.

Ms Sharif, a supply teacher from Derby, has denied inciting her brother to commit an act of terrorism.

Jonathan Laidlaw, prosecuting, said that Ms Sharif had known of her brother’s intentions and actively encouraged him to blow himself up.

Mr Laidlaw presented e-mails to the court from Mr Sharif to his family shortly before he was to carry out his act of terrorism.

One read: "Please take care of yourselves. Difficult times may lay ahead for you and the family in the next few weeks and months if Allah wills.

"Plan now and get rid of any material you may consider problematic."

The final part to Tahira, his wife, asked her to look after their three children, one of whom had been born two months before.

It read: "After reaching our destination, Allah guided us to his friends who were happy to see us and said they needed our help very much.

"I hope you are strong. Know that everything is just a test and Allah will reward the patient ones.