SAMANTHA Lewthwaite is one of the world’s most wanted terrorists – but a film will question whether the White Widow is to blame for countless bloody murders.
Interpol has placed a Red Notice on Lewthwaite, which has been linked to 400 deaths in attacks mainly on African soil.
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The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey will play a mother of four who converted to Islam at age 17 in a film titled Girl Next Door.
It’s sure to be a controversial role because the film’s director, Bruce Goodison, describes Lewthwaite as “a life-affirming, heartbroken, idealistic young man.”
Lewthwaite, who was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in Aylesbury, Bucks, was married to suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, who murdered 25 people in London on July 7, 2005.
It has long been questioned how much Lindsay’s wife, who was pregnant with their second child at the time of the atrocity, knew about the plot.
She denied knowing he planned to blow up a subway train, but his alleged subsequent involvement with other terrorists cast doubt on this.
Goodison says her story will see her as a woman whose “struggle” is “exploited by men for the purposes of global terror”.
He describes Girl Next Door as a “disturbing mystery” and certainly Lewthwaite is one of the most mysterious figures in the global jihadist movement.
Security services in Africa and the Middle East tried to track her down, but this shadowy figure eluded capture for a decade and a half.
The most recent unconfirmed sightings have placed her in war-torn Yemen, where the Al-Shabaab terrorist network operates, with which she is believed to be affiliated.
There were reports that she was recruiting female suicide bombers.
Soldier’s Daughter
The land of West Asia is certainly a far cry from Lewthwaite’s childhood in the UK.
Daughter of soldier Andrew Lewthwaite in Northern Ireland, she grew up in Aylesbury, Bucks.
It is said that after her parents separated when she was 11, she became closer to her Muslim neighbors.
At age 17, Lewthwaite converted to Islam and changed his first name to Sherafiyah.
Her new faith led her to an Islamic chat room, where she formed an online relationship with Lindsay, before meeting him in person for the first time at an anti-Iraq war march in London.
The diligent student earned the grades to attend the University of London, but dropped out and settled down with Lindsay.
They married in 2002 and three years later, 19-year-old Lindsay carried out the July 7 attacks with three other men.
Lewthwaite later received police protection and described the attack in London as “horrific”.
terrorist network
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In the following months, however, it appears that she became increasingly radicalized and left Britain three years after 7/7.
Intelligence reports show that Lewthwaite first lived in South Africa, where she worked in IT, before being deported in 2009.
From there, she traveled to Kenya via Tanzania, managing to sneak in with a fake passport under the name Natalie Faye Webb.
However, it was only in 2012 that his terrorist links came to light during a Kenyan police investigation.
They found a bomb factory in a village in the coastal city of Mombasa, an AK-47, as well as a photo of Lewthwaite and his laptop.
On the computer, she wrote a poem praising 9/11 terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden, saying, “Oh, Sheik Osama, my father, my brother, my love for you is like no other.”
Fingerprints found on the property were also hers and the owner identified her as having lived there.
She would be with Londoner Habib Ghani, described as “very dangerous”.
Lewthwaite was linked to a grenade attack that killed three people in Mombasa in June 2012 as they sat in a bar watching England play Italy.
Anyone playing Sam needs to be fearless
Bruce Goodison
Police named her as one of the suspects.
There were suspicions that his group was also planning an attack on a nearby resort.
The terrorist cell then turned its attention to the Westgate shopping center in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where 62 civilians were killed in September 2013.
International manhunt
At this point she was the target of a large-scale international manhunt.
Security sources say Lewthwaite began operating in Somalia, a country decimated by internal conflict.
There were suspicions that she was helping to make bombs and took part in recruiting up to 40 British people into Al-Shabaab.
Local intelligence agencies alleged that she persuaded Somali boys as young as 15 to become suicide bombers.
Some of them were given heroin before becoming “martyrs”.
In 2015, she was linked to a mass shooting of 148 people at a university in Garissa, Kenya.
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Three years later, there were alleged sightings in Yemen, where she was said to be offering just £300 to desperate families of young women – to persuade them to become suicide bombers.
She has not yet been charged with any of these crimes.
Interpol lists two charges against Lewthwaite – possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The extent to which she was involved in carrying out so many attacks remains unclear.
Some reports say that Lewthwaite, who was reportedly on his fourth marriage, focused more on recruiting, finances and organization.
Goodison doubts she is a “brain”.
He said: “The film is unapologetically from Sam’s perspective – anyone playing Sam needs to be fearless.”
Or should this be feared?
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