A council worker who was sacked after a conviction for aiding a terrorist came to light did make the authority aware of her past – but HR errors meant her past slipped through the net.
Mulumebet Girma was jailed for helping failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman flee after his plot to kill tube passengers on July 21 2005.
She helped him escape to Brighton before he took a Eurostar to Paris and ended up in Rome, where he was arrested.
Ms Girma, also known as Mulu, was 24 in 2008 when she was jailed for 10 years, which was reduced to five after an appeal.
Mulumebet Girma (left, in 2008), 33, rose through ranks of Southwark Council’s housing department, following her release from prison, and featured on its magazine (right)
Former model Mulumebet Girma, pictured here taking part in Miss Brighton 2005. Three years later she would be jailed for assisting her terrorist brother-in-law Hussein Osman
After being released, she was employed by Southwark Borough Council, in south London, but was sacked when her history was made public.
But her former employers have now said did Girma tick a box confirming that she had been convicted of a crime – but ‘regrettably’ further background checks were not done.
Southwark Council blamed its former HR chief Bernard Nawrat, 61, for failing to follow procedure.
A council spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘She disclosed she had a criminal conviction on her initial application, but not in subsequent internal applications [for other positions].
‘If a criminal record is declared by an applicant, details should be established, and the final decision about recruitment should be taken by the strategic director. Regrettably in this case, procedure was not followed.
Southwark Council blamed its former HR chief Bernard Nawrat, 61, for failing to follow procedure
‘We are investigating what happened and why the proper procedures were not followed.’
‘The onus was on the HR [Human Resources] officer to escalate the conviction, but that didn’t happen – it wasn’t raised.’
She added: ‘The Director responsible for HR at the time left the council in 2015. His name is Bernard Nawrat.’
Mr Nawrat, who now runs his own HR consultancy, laughed when he was told the council blamed him for her recruitment.
‘Oh, ok, it is amusing they have named me. I have not worked for the council for two years,’ said Mr Nawrat. ‘I don’t know what happened in 2013, I have no knowledge of it.
‘I was in charge of HR but there were other people above me and below me who were also responsible,’ he added.
Her solicitors, Birnberg Peirce, said the council took her on despite having full knowledge of her part in helping Osman escape.
The firm said in a statement: ‘Mulu Girma has been the subject of sensationalist journalism based on an unlawful and misleading dissemination of personal information.
‘Now that this personal information has wrongly been placed into the public domain she has no choice but to respond to correct the wholly inaccurate portrayal of her.
‘In 2008 she was convicted of two offences which stemmed entirely from a familial relationship whereby she assisted her brother-in-law after his failed involvement in a terrorist incident.
‘Her conviction was not for offences which required proof of terrorist motive or intent, neither of which she had – indeed she condemns all forms of terrorism.
‘In halving her sentence the Court of Appeal recognised the personal dilemma faced by individuals placed in her situation and since her release she has done everything in her power to lead a law abiding existence.
‘She disclosed her convictions in her application to Southwark Council, both in writing and orally and subsequently had a successful career which has now been destroyed for no purpose.’
Girma buys a newspaper in a newsagents in Brighton, as she helped Osman hide from police shortly after the failed bomb plot in 2005
After the 21/7 plot failed, Girma (left, in 2008) and her brother Esayas, picked up bomber Hussein Osman (right, in 2004) and drove him to their sister’s student flat in Brighton
The Ethiopian former model rose through the ranks at the council and was even put on the cover of a council magazine to promote its apprenticeship scheme.
The council said she failed to tell them about her convictions but Ms Girma’s lawyers say she did disclose her record.
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.
Ms Girma was found guilty of assisting an offender and failing to disclose information about Osman’s involvement in the attempted attacks.
She was sentenced alongside Osman’s wife – and her sister – Yeshi Girma, then 32, who is serving 11 years and nine months in prison.
Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark Council, said: ‘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.’
Senior staff said she was not given any access to police ‘watch list’ information and a review of her computer usage uncovered nothing suspicious.
Hussein Osman (left) , along with Muktar Said Ibrahim (right), Yassin Omar and Ramzi Mohammed, were all jailed for life for conspiracy to murder in July 2007
Mohammed (left) and Ismail Abdurahman who was jailed for 10 years for helping the plotters
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.
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, killing themselves and passengers, but the bombs failed to go off.
The attempted attacks came two weeks after four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.
They were jailed for life in July 2007 after being convicted at London’s Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder.
A fifth man, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, was later jailed for 33 years after admitting conspiracy to cause explosions.
At their trial the four had maintained that the events of July 21 were an elaborate hoax designed to protest against and draw attention to Britain’s role in the attack upon and occupation of Iraq.
Southwark Tory councillor Michael Mitchell said: ‘This is a truly shocking blunder. Allowing someone with that background to work with potentially vulnerable clients is an entirely avoidable risk. It’s a huge error.’