Safiyya Amira Shaikh, formerly Michelle Ramsden,[1] is a British woman convicted of plotting to bomb St Paul's Cathedral in London.
She is thought to be the first lone female Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) bomb plotter in the UK.
[1] 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.
Shaikh became active on "multiple social media platforms" and had set up an account named 'GreenB1rds' on the encrypted Telegram Messenger app; encouraging violent attacks in both the UK and abroad, and disseminating pro-ISIL propaganda.
She had enjoyed watching ISIL beheading videos, glorified terrorist atrocities, had been in contact with convicted British jihadist Anjem Choudary, and had listened to lectures by extremist imam Anwar Al-Awlaki.