Old Bailey. Pic: James Stringer Flickr

A Hackney couple that distributed extremist Islamic videos pleaded guilty to terrorist offences at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

Royal Barnes, 23, and his wife, Rebekah Dawson, 22, were arrested last August after Counter Terrorism Command police officers searched their home on Ferme Park Road and found extremist footage on a laptop.

Three of the videos encouraged participation in terrorism. One showed Barnes driving past the floral tributes in Woolwich, mocking the death of Lee Rigby.

Commander Richard Walton, Head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Fusilier Rigby’s murder in Woolwich last year shocked the nation. We will target and prosecute anyone who glorifies and encourages terrorism in this way; to do so is an act of terrorism itself.”

In addition, a Facebook post, also found on the laptop, said that Barnes would give his car to anyone who beheaded a British, American or French soldier in Muslim lands.

Barnes, who is associated with Michael Adebowale, one of Fusilier Rigby’s attackers, pleaded guilty to three counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication and one count of inciting terrorism overseas.

Dawson had pleaded guilty to three counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication at a hearing on December 6 2013, where she controversially refused to remove her niqab. Reporting restrictions were in place but were lifted following Barnes’ guilty plea.

Mr. Barnes was remanded in custody until sentencing, which was adjourned until a later date.