A court in the UK has convicted a British woman who had traveled to Syria of membership of the Takfiri group of ISIL also known as Daesh and encouraging acts of terror on social media.

Tareena Shakil, 26, had traveled with her toddler to Syria via Turkey after telling friends and family she was off on a beach holiday.

In Syria city of Raqqah, she lived more than two months in a mansion with women of various nationalities waiting to be matched up with male members of ISIL. While there, she sent messages and pictures promoting ISIL on social media.

At a court in Brimingham, Shakil gave an extraordinary account of her time in Syria and described how she managed to escape after becoming disillusioned and frightened.

Shakil said she had been groomed by ISIL recruiters in the UK who targeted her when she was low because of the break-up of her marriage. She insisted that there was no choice left for her but to send messages and pictures that were supportive of ISIL. Her defense team argued that she went to Syria with the toddler to escape an "unhappy family life".

Shakil has also been found guilty of encouraging acts of terrorism through messages posted on Twitter. She denied the charges.

Shakil was one of about 60 British women who are believed to have left their homes to join ISIL in Syria. They were said to have been among about 600 women from Europe, North America and Australia in Syria.