Wife of 21 July plotter convicted

She had some information about what the bombers intended to do on 21/7, but failed to bring this to the attention of the police Max Hill Prosecutor

The wife of a man who tried to bomb a Tube train has been convicted of failing to tell police about his plan.

The Old Bailey heard Yeshi Girma, 32, of Stockwell, south London, knew of her husband Hussain Osman's plot to set off a bomb at Shepherd's Bush in July 2005.

Osman and three other men were jailed for life for the failed attacks.

Girma's brother Esayas, her sister Mulumebet and her boyfriend Mohamed Kabashi were all convicted of aiding Osman after the attempted attack.

Kabashi's two Brighton flatmates, Shadi Abdelgadir, 25, and Omer Almagboul, 22, were cleared by the jury.

Yeshi, Mulu and Esayas Girma were all remanded in custody to be sentenced on Thursday.

Prosecutor Max Hill said Yeshi Girma had known before the attacks what her husband planned.

"She had some information about what the bombers intended to do on 21/7, but failed to bring this to the attention of the police," he told the jury.

Detectives say as well as assisting with the escape plan, Yeshi Girma removed and destroyed evidence from the couple's south London home.

Mr Hill also told the trial that she could have been in no doubt about her husband's intentions.

She knew he had earlier taken their son to a Lake District terrorism training camp, the trial heard.

Rucksack bombs

"Had the bombers successfully and completely detonated the bombs, there would have been carnage and mass murder," Mr Hill told the jury.

21/7 CONVICTIONS June 2008: Four guilty of failing to inform police about plot February 2008: Five men who assisted plotters convicted November 2007: 'Fifth bomber' jailed after admitting conspiracy to cause explosions July 2007: Muktar Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman (shown above) convicted of failed bomb plot

"It follows that armed with that prior knowledge of what was going to happen, Yeshi Girma could have attempted to prevent the attacks."

Osman, along with Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar and Ramzi Mohammed, attempted to detonate rucksack bombs on three Tube trains and a bus on 21 July 2005.

They were jailed for life for conspiracy to murder in July 2007. A fifth man, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, was later jailed for 33 years after admitting conspiracy to cause explosions.

A bid to appeal against their convictions was turned down by the Court of Appeal in April.

The failed attacks came two weeks after 52 people were killed and more than 770 injured when four suicide bombers blew up parts of the London transport network.

Osman's first move after fleeing the Shepherd's Bush scene of his attack was to contact his wife.

She and her brother picked him up and drove to Brighton to hide him in Mulumebet Girma's home.

Brother's passport

The trial heard that Osman's sister-in-law treated his injuries and disposed of his clothes, destroying critical forensic evidence.

Osman was then moved to a flat Mulumebet Girma's boyfriend shared with two other men.

When clues led police to the door of Osman's home, Yeshi Girma gave an incorrect name and mobile phone number for her husband, saying the couple were estranged.

The four will be sentenced on Thursday

Her sister, who was back in Brighton with the would-be bomber, had meanwhile texted her to say: "Hi babes. Hope your alright. We are cool and slept well thank god. Call you later babes. Love you all. X"

Osman devised a getaway that involved using his brother's passport to slip out of the country on Eurostar on 26 July. Three days later he was arrested in Rome.

Following Yeshi Girma's arrest, detectives found a note in her handwriting detailing what prosecutors said were her beliefs in the rewards waiting for her "martyr" husband.

Speaking after the trial, the head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command, Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, said: "The men and women convicted today deliberately failed to alert the authorities about what they knew, despite the heightened fear and anxiety around that time, when four suicide bombers were at large."

Deborah Walsh, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Girma and her accomplices had researched the media and internet "to see if the police were aware of Osman's part in the failed attacks".