Teenager convicted of terror plot sentenced to life in prison over Mad Hatter case
The youngest woman to be convicted of plotting a terror attack on British soil has been jailed for life with a minimum of 13 years.
Safaa Boular, 18, hid her Islamic State-inspired plans in coded conversations about preparations for an innocent Mad Hatter’s tea party.
She became the final member of Britain’s first all-woman terror cell to be jailed when Judge Mark Dennis QC sentenced her to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 13 years at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Youngest woman convicted of terror plot being sentenced in Mad Hatter case
Friend jailed for failing to alert police of ‘imminent’ terror attack
Judge Dennis rejected claims she had entirely renounced her “deeply entrenched” Islamist views and downplayed the extent grooming played in her radicalisation.
“In my view there’s insufficient evidence upon which it would be safe to conclude at this stage that the defendant is a truly transformed individual and the serious risk that she has posed hitherto has now evaporated,” he said.
“However much she may have been influenced and drawn into her extremism, it appeared she knew what she was doing and acted with open eyes.”
Boular was sitting her GCSEs when she was seduced online by IS fighter Naweed Hussain, originally from Coventry.
After she was stopped from joining the 32-year-old in Syria, she discussed a grenade and gun attack on the British Museum instead.
Their plans were uncovered by online MI5 role-players and the Boular family home in Vauxhall, south London, was bugged.
Following a trial, Boular was found guilty of two counts of preparing terrorist acts.