A jihadi jailed for helping the London July 21 bombers got a high-profile council job after lying about her past. Mulumebet Girma, 33, joined Southwark Council after colleagues failed to realise she was linked to one of the country’s most notorious attacks.
The Ethiopian former model rose through the ranks and was even put on the cover of a council magazine to promote its apprenticeship scheme. But she was sacked after her conviction was exposed for assisting brother-in-law Hussein Osman, who tried to blow up a packed Tube train in 2005. Her employment raises questions about what measures are taken to vet staff, some of whom have access to databases of vulnerable people.
Details of her convictions can be found in seconds with a simple Google search, aided by her unusual name.
But senior staff said she was not given any access to police ‘watch list’ information and a review of her computer usage uncovered nothing suspicious.
Girma was recruited by the south London local authority as a trainee customer services assistant in 2013, shortly after she was released early from a 10-year jail term. She did not declare her criminal past and the council failed to uncover it despite her having a key role in one of Britain’s highest profile terror trials.
