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'World's Most Wanted': 'White Widow' linked to 400 deaths in various terror attacks 'played dumb' to evade arrest

Samantha Lewthwaite painted herself as a naive victim of her suicide bomber husband's crime and stated that she was 'horrified by the atrocities'
PUBLISHED AUG 5, 2020
Samantha Lewthwaite (Interpol)
Samantha Lewthwaite (Interpol)

Samantha Louise Lewthwaite, an alleged member of the Somalia-based radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab, known in the media as the "white widow," is accused of causing the deaths of more than 400 people in various terrorist attacks around the world, including the 7/7 attacks in London, and has been on the run for the last four years.

Her life was the subject of the 3rd episode of Netflix's docuseries, 'World's Most Wanted' which premieres on August 5. Despite being born to Christian parents in Banbridge, County Down in 1983, by the age of 17 Lewthwaite had converted to Islam after her parents separated in 1994. She was apparently, "badly affected by the break-up" and "sought solace from Muslim neighbors who she believed had a stronger family network." At the time of her conversion, she adopted the Muslim name Sherafiyah at the time of her conversion. She met her husband, Germaine Lindsay for the first time at a Stop the War march in Hyde Park, London, and got married in 2002. 

Three years later, on July 7, 2005, Lindsay blew himself up on a train that was going from between King's Cross and Russell Square tube stations. The suicide attack claimed the lives of 26 civilians. When Investigators delved into Linsday's background they discovered his wife's ties to the terrorist group. "She was a white-western convert. She painted herself as a naive victim of her husband's crime. She made the statement that the bombings were abhorrent, that she could not believe that her husband was able to do this," Gina Vale, King's College researcher said in the docuseries. 

She issued the following statement after her husband was identified as the suicide bomber: "I totally condemn and am horrified by the atrocities. I am the wife of Germaine Lindsay, and never predicted or imagined that he was involved in such horrific activities. He was a loving husband and father. I am trying to come to terms with recent events. My whole world has fallen apart, and my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this incomprehensible devastation."

Samantha Lewthwaite (Interpol)

Although she almost got away with the facade, she generated immense interest in the public who wanted to know more about her. "After the bombings when the identities of the terrorists became known, Samantha was under extreme pressure. She had questions to answer, not just to the police, to her friends, her family... people that knew her, what did you know about this Samantha?" Jamie Paytt, a journalist with the Sun who interviewed her and went onto recall the unique experience of doing so. 

He added: "So we were sitting outside on a lovely, hot day, expecting Samantha. When she arrived in a taxi with her newly born child, we were quite surprised to see that when she arrived she had the full hijab on, which was massively out f keeping with the local community. Eventually, she agreed to uncover her face. Everybody wanted to talk to her. Yes, it was a great scoop. I believe we spent three days with her doing the interview... In the hindsight, when I look back at it, she was clearly putting on an act. But at the time, I believed every word of it." 

Although the prosecutors tried to gather evidence against her to link her to the bombing, they did not succeed. David Videcette, former Scotland Yard detective said: "Samantha Lewthwaite played dumb, she played very like, 'I am just the wife. There's nothing untoward about our relationship.' But very quickly we could get a bit of an idea that some of the stories that people like Samantha Lewthwaite were telling us, probably weren't true."

A view of a laptop computer screen showing the Interpol website which features a 'Red Notice' for the arrest of Samantha Lewthwaite on September 26, 2013 in London, England. (Getty Images)

Videcette said that Lewthwaite was strangely not bothered about her husband not showing up home after the day of the bombing despite the fact that she was seven months pregnant with his child. She waited for a week before reporting her husband missing. "She named the child that was born after the bombing, 'Shahid'... an honorific term for a martyr. You know she called her child a martyr, effectively, after... and she is supposed to be disgusted about what her husband has done."

Although Videcette said that he pressed hard to get her on the suspect list, the senior investigating officer of the case felt like they did not have enough evidence against her and that the CPS was going to reject the request. "She beat us," he says, adding that he regrets not having prosecuted her as she got the opportunity to allegedly carry out multiple attacks after that. 

After the London bombing, she was believed to have been involved in an attack on people watching football on a TV in a bar in Mombasa during Euro 2012, which killed three people. In September 2013, there were rumors of her possible involvement in the Westgate shopping mall attack, which left 71 people dead. 

On January 4, 2012, Kenyan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Lewthwaite to answer charges of possessing bomb-making material and conspiring to make an explosive device with the intent to harm others. Jacob Ondari, Kenya's assistant director of public prosecutions, announced: "Samantha Lewthwaite was charged in absentia and a warrant of arrest issued against her." In 2014, the BBC reported that security sources confirmed that Lewthwaite was in Kenya and that the authorities had launched a large operation to find her. She has not been arrested to date. 

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