A council worker who helped one of the 21/7 bomb plotters escape has been sacked after her terrorism conviction came to light.

Mulumebet Girma was jailed for helping failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman - her brother-in-law - flee the UK after the failed plot to kill Tube passengers on 21 July, 2005.

She was 24 in 2008 when she got a 10-year term, later reduced to five on appeal, for assisting an offender and failing to disclose information about Osman's involvement.

Shortly after her early release, the Ethiopian got a job with Southwark Council as a trainee customer services assistant.

Image: Girma was jailed for helping her terrorist brother-in-law Hussain Osman

The council failed to uncover her criminal past - which could have been found with a simple Google search - and she rose through the ranks to become a systems and performance analyst in the housing team.


The 33-year-old even appeared on the cover of a council magazine to demonstrate the success of the apprenticeship scheme, according to The Sun.

The council said she has since been sacked and denied she had access to sensitive lists of vulnerable council clients, including people on terror watch lists.

Image: The failed 21/7 bomb plot brought London to a standstill in 2005

Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark Council, said: "The individual concerned no longer works for Southwark Council.

"As soon as her background came to light we took immediate action and terminated her employment.

"She did not disclose her full offence to the council.

"During her employment this individual never had access to police watch list data.

"We have fully reviewed her activity while she was employed at the council, including her computer usage, and no wrongdoing was uncovered.

Image: Mulumebet Girma did not tell Southwark Council about her criminal record

"We have also undertaken a robust review of our processes and procedures in light of this incident."

Ms Girma said she did disclose her convictions in her application to Southwark Council, both in writing and orally.

In a statement, her lawyer said: "Her conviction was not for offences which required proof of terrorist motive or intent", going on to say that her "successful career" has now been "destroyed for no purpose".

Osman, along with Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar and Ramzi Mohammed, tried to detonate rucksacks laden with explosives on three underground trains at Shepherd's Bush station, Oval station and Warren Street station, together with a bus in Hackney Road, but the bombs failed to go off.

They were jailed for life in July 2007 after being convicted at London's Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder.

The attempted attacks came two weeks after four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770 others.