A mother and daughter have been found guilty of sending money to a relative who had joined Isis in Syria.

Joseph Ogaba was 30 when he had left home in Finsbury Park in September 2014 to join the terrorist group, a court has been told.

His sister, 53-year-old Stella Oyella and his niece 32-year-old, Vanessa Atim, both of Newham, were accused of entering into an arrangement to fund Ogaba between March and October 2017.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that during his time in Syria, Ogaba kept in contact with the defendants.

Prosecutor Annabel Darlow KC told jurors: “The sums involved were relatively modest by UK standards – perhaps several hundred pounds at a time.

“Nevertheless, Joseph Ogaba made it clear to Atim, who would pass such information onwards, that the funds were vital to him.

“Both defendants played a role in providing Joseph Ogaba with funds, knowing that he was in Syria, having joined Isis, and that the money they repeatedly funnelled through to him was instrumental in assisting him to remain where he was – in the territory of someone else’s country, having joined an organisation whose armed conflict cost many thousands of lives and destroyed countless other lives.”

The activities were exposed after a computer hard drive was uncovered in Hajin in Syria by Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018 and handed to coalition forces.

An examination revealed images of Mr Ogaba posing with a variety of AK-47 machine guns and high-performance rifles and ammunition belts.

There were also images of an apparent explosive device, extremist publications, and family photographs.

Meanwhile, Atim’s iPhone had been downloaded after she was subjected to port stops at Heathrow Airport, the court was told.

But its significance only became clear to investigators after the discovery of the hard drive in Hajin province, indicating Mr Ogaba was being funded from overseas.

The prosecution alleged that Atim and Oyella had entered into a funding arrangement when they “knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that the funds provided would or might be used for the purposes of terrorism”.

Atim and Oyella had denied wrongdoing. Atim accepted helping her uncle but maintained that by 2017 he was no longer fighting or supporting terrorist activity.

Oyella denied committing any offence and insisted she had no case to answer.

The jury found Oyella and Atim guilty of funding terrorism on Wednesday (December 20).

Judge Dennis adjourned sentencing until February 1 and the defendants remain on bail.

The court heard that Ogaba was eventually captured and held in a detention camp until his death around July 2022.

Reporting by PA.