Latest news with #Lewthwaite
The Irish Sun
12-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Fugitive ‘White Widow' terrorist Samantha Lewthwaite ‘is still alive and active in terror cell financing jihadists'
THE notorious 'White Widow' Brit terrorist linked to 400 deaths who married a 7/7 suicide bomber is still alive and active in terror cells, a new investigation has claimed. Samantha Lewthwaite has been one of the world's most wanted terrorists having eluded capture for years. Advertisement 6 Samantha Lewthwaite 6 The wreck of the Number 30 double decker bus is pictured in Tavistock Square in central London, 08 July, 2005 Credit: AFP 6 Samantha Lewthwaite has long been wanted in connection to a string of terror related incidents 6 A photo of Samantha Lewthwaite taken from her fake South African passport released by Kenyan police in December 2011 Credit: AFP Rumours have circulated since her disappearance that she died in a drone strike. But an investigation from the Daily Mail has shed lights on the possible whereabouts of a figure linked to a series of ghastly attacks. It comes as Britain marks 20 years since the London bombings on July 7, 2005 this week, in which 52 people died and hundreds were injured. Lewthwaite, who was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in Aylesbury, was married to one of the suicide bombers, Germaine Lindsay. Advertisement read more in world news She denied knowing he planned to blow up a tube train, but her subsequent alleged involvement with other terrorists has cast doubt on that. The now 41-year-old left the UK in 2009 and went to South Africa, before heading on to Tanzania in 2011 and then to Kenya. She is also accused of orchestrating the attack in Mombasa targeting England fans during Euro 2012, and two other deadly attacks in the country. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive The Brit has been in total linked to around 400 deaths. Security services across Africa and the Middle East have tried to track her down without any success for a decade and a half. At a court hearing in 2014, one Kenyan detective said: "She is a person with multiple identification. "She keeps moving. We think she is using plastic surgery including her nose." Advertisement But it is now believed she is still alive and was spotted in Uganda as recently as last year. She is allegedly now based in Somalia, where she is part of an al-Shabaab cell - an al-Qaeda affiliate. "Despite not knowing her exact location, we believe she is active in terrorism activities under al-Shabaab control in Somalia," a source said. The White Widow was also reported to be the "main financier" of the cell, operating in a logistical role. Advertisement In this position, she allegedly controls the money instead of working on the front lines. She is also said to be a fan of Beyonce and Weetabix. Police previously crossed paths briefly with Lewthwaite when investigating a property in Mombasa in 2011. A British man called Jermaine Grant was arrested when fuses and ammunition were found stashed under a sofa - and he named Lewthwaite as the senior cell member. Advertisement While cops discovered she was in the adjacent apartment, the passport they found was in a different name. Lewthwaite had fled by the time they realised the passport was a fake. This was the last confirmed sighting of her. It is now alleged the officers accepted a bribe of five million Kenyan dollars (nearly £30,000) from her when they went to the apartment. Advertisement In 2018, there were alleged sightings in Yemen where she was said to be offering as little as £300 to the desperate families of young women to persuade them to become suicide bombers. She has not yet been charged with any of those offences. As a teenager she was seduced by the teachings of extremist cleric, Trevor Forrest, or Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal. Lewthwaite even visited him in prison in 2006, a year after the bombings. Advertisement Through el-Faisal she met first husband, bomber Germaine Lindsay who killed himself and 26 others on the Tube in July 7, 2005. 6 Germaine Lindsay and Samantha Lewthwaite Credit: ©2020 Netflix, Inc. Advertisement 6 An injured person is taken away from Aldgate Underground Station Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd
Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Brit terror suspect linked to White Widow learns whether he'll be freed
Jermaine Grant - accused of being an associate of 7/7 bomber's wife Samantha Lewthwaite - was deported from Kenya in August last year and has been denied parole after breaching licence conditions A British terror suspect linked to the fugitive White Widow has had his release from prison blocked, the Mirror can reveal. Jermaine Grant - accused of being an associate of terror mastermind Samantha Lewthwaite - has been in a UK prison since August when he was deported from Kenya. He spent 13 years behind bars for terror offences in Africa but was detained at Heathrow and arrested on suspicion of being a member of Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. He was recalled to prison for breaching licence conditions over a 1999 rape conviction. Grant was automatically put up for parole last month, but the Mirror has learnt his release was denied. Now he could remain behind bars until 2027 unless he is deemed fit to be freed. A document makes no reference to allegations that he was part of a terror cell. But it states: "After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and on licence and the evidence presented in the dossier, the panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public. The panel considered that Mr Grant was appropriately located in custody where outstanding levels of risk could be addressed. He will be eligible for another parole review in due course." Muslim convert Grant, originally from Newham, East London, was handed five years for the rape in the capital and was freed in 2003. But he broke the terms of his licence by travelling to Kenya. He was arrested in 2011 when police found chemicals, switches and a bomb-making manual at his home in Mombasa. Police stormed a flat in Mombasa where he was said to be staying with Lewthwaite, the fugitive wife of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay. Lewthwaite remains at large and in 2021 it was claimed she was fighting with jihadis in Yemen. Originally from Aylesbury, Bucks, Lewthwaite – the daughter of a former British Army soldier who battled IRA terrorists – converted to Islam when she was 17. Images taken during her time at Aylesbury's Grange School show the seemingly normal girl wearing her school uniform for school pictures. But as a teenager she was seduced by the teachings of extremist clerics. Lewthwaite was radicalised after meeting extremist Germaine Lindsay, 19, and the couple married in 2002. Lindsay was one of four suicide bombers who detonated devices on three London Underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, killing 56 people and injuring 700. Lewthwaite, a pregnant mum-of-one at the time, said afterwards: '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 the recent events. My whole world has fallen apart, and my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this incomprehensible devastation.' But she was lying. She adopted a fake identity to travel to Africa where she joined the al-Shabaab terror group. Lewthwaite was named as a suspect in a grenade attack against tourists watching the Euros in 2012 at the Jericho bar in Kenya's port city of Mombasa. Three people were killed and 25 injured. The following year Interpol issued a Red Notice arrest warrant for her after she was linked to the 2013 Westgate Mall massacre in Nairobi. She has also been linked to the Riverside terror attack in Nairobi in January 2019 during which a member of the SAS helped save hundreds of lives when he charged into gunfire to rescue trapped civilians. Before his deportation from Kenya, the Mirror understands Grant was visited by British intelligence officers in Nairobi's maximum security Kamiti Prison. Documentation - including passport photos and identification papers - was arranged during the prison cell meeting. He was flown from the African country on a Kenyan Airways flight before being arrested at Heathrow Airport. Sources confirmed he would be "debriefed" about his relationship with Brit terrorist Lewthwaite. They also say UK officials will also unpick his journey to Kenya, in which he is said to have travelled through Somalia. Cops allegedly found hydrogen peroxide, AA batteries and electrical wire at a property he shared with Lewthwaite, but she had already fled. Grant is said to have been a close associate of Lewthwaite's who was a member of Somali Islamist terror group al-Shabaab. In a 2019 trial, he was convicted of possession of bomb-making materials, but the court acquitted him of conspiracy over the alleged plot. He was given a four-year sentence after already having been given a nine-year sentence at an earlier trial for using forged documents to obtain Kenyan citizenship. When Grant was jailed his lawyer Chacha Mwita said there were "screaming contradictions, inconsistencies and lack of corroboration" in the prosecution case. And insiders deny that he has any relationship with Lewthwaite, claiming it was a bogus claim used to boost the prosecution case.
