July 21 fiancee jailed for three years

Updated 23.40 Fri Jul 11 2008

Keywords: Yassin Omar, july 21

The fiancee of July 21 ringleader Yassin Omar has been jailed for three years for helping him escape by dressing as a Muslim woman in a burka.

Teenager Fardosa Abdullahi gave Omar her mother's long black robe to help him flee London the day after the attacks in 2005.

"The message must go out that this court will not go soft of those who assist terrorists even those who are young, vulnerable and under pressure, as you undoubtedly were" - Judge Paul Worsley

Abdullahi, now 20, got engaged to Omar in an Islamic ceremony four days before he tried to blow up himself with fellow passengers at Warren Street Tube station.

She admitted helping him escape at an Old Bailey hearing last month but her plea could not be reported until now.

Judge Paul Worsley rejected a plea that she should be spared jail because she is now 24 weeks pregnant and was vulnerable at the time of the offence and had a long history of mental illness.

He said: "The message must go out that this court will not go soft of those who assist terrorists even those who are young, vulnerable and under pressure, as you undoubtedly were."

Her sentencing brings to an end a series of cases in which 16 people have either been convicted of or admitted charges linked to the July 21 attacks.

CCTV footage seen at Omar's trial showed the 6ft 2ins terrorist dressed head to toe in a burka.

To make him look more like a woman he had also shaved his arms.

The footage from Golders Green coach station also showed him carrying a white handbag. Abdullahi went there with him the day after his failed attack.

He fled to Birmingham where he was arrested five days later by armed police. He was later jailed for life with a minimum of 40 years at Woolwich Crown Court.

Abdullahi, of Finchley, north London, pleaded guilty on June 5 at the Old Bailey to a charge of assisting an offender.

The charge includes the admission that she helped Omar create a disguise by "dressing as a Muslim woman", as well as providing him with a telephone and giving false information to police.

A further count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism was allowed to lie on file.