St Paul's Cathedral bomb plot

{{Short description|ISIL supporter and suicide attack}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}

In 2019, Safiyya Amira Shaikh, a supporter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), plotted to suicide bomb St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, United Kingdom.{{Cite news |title=Safiyya Shaikh: How undercover operation caught a drug addict jihadist |url=https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53264640 |first=Dominic |last=Casciani |work=BBC News |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=3 July 2020}}{{cite news |url=https://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51583815 |title=St Paul's bomb plot: IS supporter Safiyya Shaikh pleads guilty |date=21 February 2020 |access-date=14 December 2022 |work=BBC News}}

Shaikh was born Michelle Ramsden in 1983 and has a daughter.{{cite news |url=http://itv.com/news/2020-07-03/muslim-convert-safiyya-shaikh-jailed-for-at-14-years-for-st-pauls-terror-attack-plot |title=Muslim convert Safiyya Shaikh jailed for at least 14 years for St Paul's suicide terror attack plot |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=14 December 2022 |work=ITV.com}} She is from a very dysfunctional family and became a drug addict. She converted to Islam in 2007 and became estranged from her family. She became radicalised during the mid-2010s into supporting ISIL and was in online contact with other Islamists. She was investigated for her online extremism by the police, who had online conversations with her. She met an undercover police officer in west London in September 2019 and was arrested the following month. In February 2020 at the Old Bailey, Shaikh pleaded guilty to preparing an act of terrorism, which she intended to carry out on April 12, 2020, (Easter Sunday), using an explosive belt. On 3 July 2020, Shaikh, who lived in Hayes, west London, wore a black hijab as she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 14 years.

Shaikh also planned to plant a bomb at a Central London hotel and planned a suicide bombing on the London Underground.{{cite news |url=https://news.sky.com/story/safiyya-shaikh-london-is-supporter-who-planned-to-blow-up-st-pauls-cathedral-jailed-12012373 |title=Safiyya Shaikh: London IS supporter who planned to blow up St Paul's Cathedral jailed |first=Mark |last=White |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=14 December 2022 |work=Sky News}}