British woman jailed for plot to bomb London’s St Paul’s Cathedral

Muslim convert Safiyya Shaikh was arrested last year after making contact with an explosives expert who was a police informant

Prosecutors said she intended to trigger a suicide vest at the nearby London Underground station immediately after detonating the cathedral bombs

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London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:30pm, 3 Jul 2020Updated: 4:39am, 4 Jul 2020

A British Muslim convert was jailed for at least 14 years on Friday for plotting to blow up London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and then herself in a suicide attack on the London subway.

Safiyya Shaikh, 37, confessed to plotting the attacks when she was arrested after making contact with an explosives expert who was a police informant.

The heroin user, who converted to Islam in 2007, expressed no remorse as she was sentenced at London’s Old Bailey, gesturing to reporters using Islamic State’s one-finger salute as she was led away.

Prosecutors also disclosed details of a call she made to a friend from prison in which she said: “I didn’t get cold feet, yeah – I was ready to go through with it.”

The court was told she intended to trigger a suicide vest at the nearby London Underground station immediately after detonating the cathedral bombs. Judge Nigel Sweeney sentenced Shaikh to life in prison with a minimum term of 14 years.

Safiyya Shaikh, 37, is seen in a booking photograph. Photo: Metroppolitan Police handout/AFP

He said her defence team’s claim that she had changed her mind about going through with the attack prior to her arrest “was a lie”.