The first woman to be convicted under terrorism legislation since the September 11 atrocities walked out of the Old Bailey yesterday after being spared a jail term.

Samina Malik, 23, who wrote jihadi poetry under the pen name Lyrical Terrorist and amassed a computer library of extremist material, was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence. The court was told that her poetry no longer praised violence.

Malik, who worked in a shop at Heathrow, was convicted of possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist. The jury cleared her of a more serious charge of having the material for a terrorist purpose. The Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said that her offence was “on the margin of what this crime concerns”.

Malik, from Southall, West London, stood nervously in the dock, dressed in a denim jacket, a hijab covering her head, as sentence was passed.

Her poems included one called How to Behead, and she stored weapons manuals and literature on poisons on her computer. On the back of a till roll she had scribbled: “The desire within me increases everyday to go for martyrdom.”

The judge said that the restrictions on personal freedom imposed by the Terrorism Act “exist to protect this country, its interests, its citizens and those who visit here. Its restrictions apply to us all whatever our personal religious or political beliefs.”

Passing sentence, he said: “You are 23, of good character till now and from a supportive and law-abiding family.”

Malik’s jail term was suspended for 18 months and the judge ordered her to do unpaid work under the supervision of probation officers.

John Burton, for Malik, said that the Probation Service considered that she posed a low risk of reoffending. She had behaved more like a rebellious teenager than a young woman, he said. “She freely admits she was subjected to messages of hate. She became hooked on Abu Hamza-type addresses and that affected her mindset.” But she had “changed her style of poetry back to love poetry and references to wanting to get married and have children”.

Outside court, in a statement read by her solicitor, Malik said: “The trial process has been an ordeal and I am relieved it is over. The jury found that I did not have the material for a terrorist purpose which was the important part of my case.”

Muhammad Abdul Bari, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told The Times this week that she had been prosecuted for a “thought crime”. But the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Samina Malik was not prosecuted for writing poetry. Ms Malik was convicted of collecting information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

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