Safiyya Amira Shaikh, formerly Michelle Ramsden, is a British woman convicted of plotting to bomb

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. She is thought to be the first lone

female Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

(ISIL) bomb plotter in the UK. She was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed te ...

in July 2020.

Early life

Shaikh was born Michelle Ramsden in Hayes, west London, in 1983. A former

company director A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

, Shaikh

converted to Islam Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

in 2007 after an act of kindness by a Muslim family in her neighbourhood, subsequently becoming estranged from her

dysfunctional family A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such ...

. Changing her name to Safiyya Amira (meaning ''pure'', ''commander'') Shaikh, she became radicalised in 2015, having fallen out with Muslim leaders who disagreed with her violent interpretations of the faith.

Support for terrorism

By 2016, Shaikh had come under surveillance by

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

and

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

. She was referred at least three times to the

deradicalisation Deradicalization refers to a process of encouraging a person with extreme political, social or religious views to adopt more moderate positions on the issues. Measures and projects Google's think tank Jigsaw has been developing a new program − ...

programme Prevent, but ceased participating each time. Shaikh became active on "multiple

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

platforms" and had set up an account named '''GreenB1rds on the

encrypt In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

Telegram Messenger In many English-speaking countries, a telegram messenger, more often known as a telegram delivery boy, telegraph boy or telegram boy was a young man employed to deliver telegrams, usually on bicycle. In the United Kingdom, they were employed by th ...

app; encouraging violent attacks in both the UK and abroad, and disseminating pro-ISIL

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loa ...

. She had enjoyed watching ISIL

beheading Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

videos, glorified

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

atrocities, had been in contact with convicted British

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

Anjem Choudary Anjem Choudary (, aka Abu Luqman; born 18 January 1967) is a Pakistani-British Islamist and a social and political activist who has been described as "the face" of militant Islamism or the "best known" Islamic extremist in Britain. Members ...

, and had listened to

lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...

s by extremist imam

Anwar Al-Awlaki Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki (also spelled al-Aulaqi, al-Awlaqi; ar, أنور العولقي, Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; April 21 or 22, 1971 – September 30, 2011) was an American imam who was killed in 2011 in Yemen by a U.S. government drone stri ...

Sting, arrest and conviction

Some time in 2019, Shaikh began formulating a plan for a

attack involving various targets, including blowing up a

hotel, planting a bomb in St Paul's, and a suicide bomb attack in the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

. She attempted to contact someone online who could provide her with

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

s. She unwittingly made contact with undercover police officers posing as extremists whom she met on at least one occasion. Inspired by the

2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, there were smaller explo ...

,''The Telegraph'' YouTube channel Female Islamic State supporter jailed for plotting to blow up St Paul's Cathedral
/ref> Shaikh had initially planned to plant explosives at St Paul's at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

2019, but put it back to Easter 2020. On 18 August 2019, Shaikh was stopped from boarding a flight to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by L ...

. Her ticket had been bought for her by subsequently-convicted,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

-based, ISIL-supporting terrorist Yousra Lemouesset. She was arrested at her home on 10 October 2019, after cancelling a meeting with the undercover officers. During one of her arrest interviews, she claimed she believed that killing people and blowing herself up in the process would be "my way into Heaven". In court, her defence argued that she would not have carried out the attacks, and that she had got

cold feet Cold feet is a phrase that refers to a person not going through with an action, particularly one which requires long term commitment, due to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. A person is said to be "getting cold feet" when, after previously committin ...

. However, after this argument was put forwards, Shaikh was recorded making a phone call from prison, in which she directly contradicted the defence, stating; "I'm so tired about things...I didn't get cold feet yeah...I was ready to go through with it...I wasn't having doubts." Shaikh was given a life sentence, with a non-

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

period of fourteen years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaikh, Safiyya Amira 1983 births Living people 21st-century English criminals Converts to Islam Criminals from London Date of birth missing (living people) English female criminals English Islamists English prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Islamic terrorism in London People from Hayes, Hillingdon Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales