The case involving Christine Connor, which came before Belfast Crown Court this week, told a story which was both alarming and bizarre.
During a brief hearing on Wednesday, the 31-year-old woman from north Belfast pleaded guilty to a number of serious charges including the attempted murder of a police officer, two counts of possessing explosives with intent to endanger life, two counts of causing an explosion likely to endanger life and one charge of preparing for terrorist acts.
In an attack in May 2013, Connor had thrown two pipe bombs at a police car in the Crumlin Road area of north Belfast. The bombs exploded but thankfully no one was injured.
She had also attempted a similar attack two weeks earlier but the improvised explosives failed to detonate.
While these incidents bore all the hallmarks of violent dissident republicans, it appears that Connor was not aligned to any particular grouping but had her own one-member organisation which she called United Struggle.
However, she did not operate entirely alone but posed as a well-known Swedish model to lure a man into her devious plan to kill police officers.
The man she enticed, Stuart Downes from Shrewsbury in England - who had no previous republican links or even sympathies - was charged with a series of offences but took his own life before the case came to trial.
A coroner said the `possible outcome of criminal proceedings had been weighing heavily on his mind.'
It is also clear that she was in contact with another man, an American student, who flew from the United States to visit Connor in prison but was arrested and held for nine days before being released without charge.
Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes said Connor's `deceitfulness knew no bounds' and described her as a `dangerous individual.'
While there are some unusual elements to this case, ultimately it involved someone who was determined to kill police officers and came close to doing so but fortunately, as a result of this investigation, no longer poses a threat.
