Muslim woman who refused to lift her veil in British court admits witness intimidation after jury were discharged for failing to reach verdict

I published previously about this gist, read it here

A Muslim woman who refused to lift her veil to give evidence in court has admitted terrorising a security guard at a mosque.
Rebekah Dawson, 22, 'frightened and intimidated' Daudi Yusuf, at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London in a row over her niqab.
Dawson refused to give evidence during a four-day trial with her brother Matthias, 32, after being ordered by the judge to remove her veil if she went into the witness box.
She claimed her religion prevented her removing the veil in the presence of men but Judge Peter Murphy ruled that it was of 'cardinal importance' that a jury could see her face while she gave evidence.
The case caused nationwide controversy last August following Judge Murphy's refusal to hear Dawson's plea after she refused to show her face.
In his ruling the following month, Judge Murphy said that Dawson could not expect the court to 'set aside its established procedure' to accommodate a 'particular religious practice'.

Dawson had denied intimidating a witness.
But months after the taxpayer-funded court case, she decided to change her plea to guilty today after a jury of six men and six women failed to reach a verdict against her and her brother.

After she announced her decision prosecutor Kate Wilkinson said there had been a 'change in the evidential picture' and the case against Matthias Dawson was being dropped

Mr Yusuf was a trial witness in proceedings against Dawson's husband, Royal Barnes, following an incident on June 10.

The Dawson siblings returned to Finsbury Park Mosque on June 23 at around 8.45pm so that Rebekah Dawson could threaten Mr Yusuf.

She confronted the security guard about what he had told police about Barnes before calling him a liar.

Dawson brought her brother Matthias to further threaten Mr Yusuf, it was claimed.

He was accused of obscuring his face with his hood before shouting at him that he 'knew what he looked like' and that 'he was finished'.

Dawson claimed he had spoken to Mr Yusuf only to discuss the original row involving her husband.

She said that the initial argument started when Mr Yusuf asked Dawson to remove her veil at the mosque and that her niqab had been the 'elephant in the room' during the trial.

Dawson had to remove her veil for a female police officer who then verified that she was the defendant at the start of every court session.

'Ms Dawson either gives evidence with the niqab off or she remains in the dock with it on', her barrister Susan Meek said.

'She has remained in the dock.

'The fact that she feels unable to remove her niqab may be something that you have quite strong views about - it may be something you agree with, it may be something that you don't'.

Rebekah Dawson, of Stroud Green, north London, admitted a single count of witness intimidation.

Matthias Dawson, of Sydenham, southeast London, denied the same charge.

Dawson will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.