Tareena Shakil

Crimes In October 2014, Shakil flew from East Midlands Airport to Turkey with her recently born son, lying to friends by saying that she was going on a family beach holiday, before crossing into ISIL stronghold Syria. However, police later discovered that she had regularly engaged with a number of blogs about ISIS before she left to Syria which were written by foreign women who had travelled there, and these made it clear that it was an expectation for all women to marry in the Islamic State. She posted photos of her posing with the Islamic State flag, made her child wear an ISIS-branded balaclava and posed him with an AK-47.

In the lead-up to going to Syria, Shakil had been in contact with ISIS extremists including Sally-Anne Jones and Aqsa Mahmood, had posted an ISIS flag on her Facebook profile and sent people messages that were supportive of the group, including images of ISIS fighters and religious passages that she believed justified the group's actions.

She had become interested in Syria after a series of pro-Palestinian marches in the UK in the summer of 2014, and engaged with "attractive" ISIS Portuguese fighter Fabio Pocas online, enticed by his profile pictures with weapons and his accounts of attempting to establish an Islamic "caliphate" in Syria.

Children's charity the NSPCC said in a statement: "This is a deeply disturbing case which could have resulted in tragedy for the toddler involved." Shakil's father declared that she had done "nothing wrong" and that she was "the perfect daughter". Shakil later said she "couldn't believe" that she had been charged with being a member of ISIS, but accepted in 2021 that she had realised that going to live in the Islamic State "shows obviously support for ISIL, and that way could be deemed and seen as membership".

In 2021, an ITV documentary was published about her, titled Tareena: Return from ISIS. On the documentary, it was revealed that Shakil, despite claiming to have in fact never married in Syria, had messaged several people during her time there telling them she had moved out with her new husband. She has about 50,000 TikTok followers as of April 2026, where she posts dating advice.

Personal life Shakil grew up in Burton upon Trent. Her mother is white British and father, from Pakistan, has more than 25 convictions, including violence and drug offences. She studied psychology at university, but left without her degree when she married. Her marriage was unstable and she spent time homeless.

After release from jail she was not allowed to go to Burton upon Trent, nor to contact her son or younger siblings, and was subject to electronic tagging and a curfew. She moved to Birmingham and worked in cleaning, table service, and admin. She describes herself as a victim of "grooming".