A 37-year-old single mother was sentenced this Friday, July 3, by the London criminal court of the Old Bailey, to life imprisonment with a minimum of 14 years for having planned a bomb attack against the cathedral of Saint Paul.
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Safiyya Amira Shaikh, previously known as Michelle Ramsden, converted to Islam in 2007 before radicalizing. She had actively searched the internet for how to do as much damage as possible in the building, one of the most famous in the British capital. According to prosecutor Alison Morgan, Safiyya Amira Shaikh had " expressed her intention to kill herself and kill as many people as possible ."
A resident of Hayes, in the west of London, she had scouted in September 2019 to assess the security arrangements for the cathedral and the possibility of introducing a bomb there. However, the one she thought was her accomplice was in fact an undercover policeman and the police had searched his home the following month.
An attack project postponed for several months
The 30-year-old had admitted that she was planning a terrorist act and publishing terrorist content on the internet. Her lawyer, Ben Newton, said she had " doubts " before committing the attack, which she had postponed for several months. However, the prosecution revealed that Ms. Shaikh had made a call last week from her prison, in which she assured a friend that she intended to carry out the attack. " I didn't have the chips, I was ready to do it, " she said during the call.
In condemning her, Sweeney J. stated that she had come to the conclusion that " your assertion to the police and others that you had doubts was a lie ". " Your intention was and has remained strong, " he added. At the time of her sentence, Ms. Shaikh, who wore a black hijab with her head down, smiled and raised her index finger to the sky, which is considered a symbol of allegiance to IS.