An Islamic State supporter who plotted to “kill as many people as possible” in a suicide bomb attack on St Paul’s Cathedral is facing years behind bars today.

Safiyya Shaikh, 36, carried out a reconnaissance trip to central London as she planned the attack between August and October last year, attempting to get hold of two bags of explosives and selecting the landmark as her top target.

She visited St Paul’s to check the levels of security and the best place to hide an improvised bomb.

Shaikh, from Hayes, had pledged allegiance to Isis and ran an encrypted channel on the Telegram messaging app urging terror attacks around the world and providing tips for extremists plotting atrocities.

Shaikh, wearing a black robe, spoke quietly as she pleaded guilty this morning at the Old Bailey to preparing terrorist acts and dissemination of terrorist publications.

Mr Justice Edis adjourned the sentencing hearing until May 12 and asked for Shaikh to be assessed by psychiatrists while in custody.

“She had selected the main target as St Paul’s Cathedral and visited the cathedral to scope its security and the best place to detonate a bomb, by which she intended to kill herself and as many other people as possible,” an earlier hearing was told.

Shaikh was remanded in custody until sentencing and faces a lengthy jail term.