Muslim convert who wanted to 'kill as many as possible' in suicide bomb attack on St Paul's Cathedral jailed for life

A female extremist who was determined to “kill as many as possible” in a suicide bomb attack on St Paul’s Cathedral has been jailed for life.

Safiyya Shaikh, 37, dreamed of destroying the landmark by detonating an explosive under the famous dome during a Christmas Day or Easter service, in an attack inspired by Islamic State.

She made plans to receive a bomb and went on a dry-run to the cathedral to scope out security and pick out the best place for an attack.

But Shaikh’s plot was foiled as an undercover agent was posing as bomb-maker, recording her as she outlined plans for an explosives and gun attack on innocent churchgoers.

Shaikh’s barrister, Ben Newton, told the Old Bailey last week that she had been getting “cold feet” and may not have gone through with her plan, having put back the date of the attack and missed a meeting to discuss the attack.

But Shaikh, a Muslim convert whose name used to be Michelle Ramsden, was then recorded on a prison phone call saying her mitigation to the court had been a lie, insisting: “I was going to go through with it, I wasn’t getting cold feet, I wasn’t having doubts”.

Sentencing her to life in prison with a 14-year minimum term, Mr Justice Sweeney said it is “self-evident” that she is a danger to the public and said there is no telling when she will be safe to release.

“I had already reached the sure conclusion on all the original evidence that your claims of doubt to the police and others was a lie”, he said. "You intention had been and remained throughout strong.”

Shaikh became a Muslim in 2007 and is believed to have radicalised after becoming disillusioned with moderate Islam. She stopped going to the mosque to avoid being reported as an extremist.

Shaikh ran a channel on the secretive social media app Telegram which urged jihadis around the world to carry out terrorist atrocities, boasting that it was her “job”.

The judge said there was evidence that her media posts may have affected terror plots around the world.

She had sworn allegiance to ISIS and pledged to “make history” with a home-grown attack, having been stopped at the airport when she tried to fly out of the UK in August last year.

Shaikh, from Hayes, got in contact online with the undercover officer, believing he was a fellow extremist, and began sharing her plans for terror.

“The defendant engaged in a plan to commit a lethal attack on St Paul’s Cathedral with the clear stated intention of killing as many people as possible and destroy a symbolic building”, said prosecutor Alison Morgan QC.

“She was by then a violent extremist who pledged her support for ISIS. She visited the cathedral to assess its security arrangements and the best place to detonate a bomb.”

Shaikh was caught on camera during a reconnaissance trip to St Paul’s in September last year, observing how thoroughly bags were searched, suggesting she would wear her daughter’s non-Islamic clothes as a disguise and calling the plot the “best opportunity of my life”.

“This most famous church to King and Queen. All there (sic) weddings been there hundreds of years”, she told the undercover agent. “I really thought it would not be possible. But it easy.”

She added: “I want do something in hotel and church. Than (sic) run and kill kuffar (non-Muslims) everywhere I see them until am shot down.

“If I had choice I blow the church to ground. With kuffar in it.”

Shaikh, who also mentioned poisoning people and attacking the Stock Exchange Building, also revealed her dream of attacking a high-profile church: “I want to make history…I want to do that in London, you know where they do the Royal weddings. I think it may be too hard because of security.”

She was arrested in October last year, after providing her measurements and bags for the bombs to undercover agents and agreeing to collect what she believed was a viable explosive.

In the call from HMP Bronzefield after her last court hearing, Shaikh insisted she “wasn’t having doubts” about the attack, claiming she only missed the last meeting the undercover officer because she had been taking drugs and slept in.

“I just feel like this is a lie”, she told a friend. “I was going to go through with it, I wasn’t getting cold feet, I wasn’t having doubts.”

Mr Newton said he believes there is doubt whether the attack would have happened, but Shaikh “wants to take full responsibility” and “wishes to be sentenced on the basis of her intentions”.

Shaikh pleaded guilty to preparing terrorist acts and dissemination of terrorist publications.

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