“He was a loving husband and father,” she said. “My whole world has been torn apart and my thoughts are with the families of the victims of this incomprehensible devastation.” She could “never have predicted that he could be involved in such horrific activities.”
The widow was taken from her home under police protection. That may have been prudent — three vigilantes were arrested after trying to set fire to her modest rented brick house in apparent retaliation for Lindsay's actions.
When Lewthwaite eventually returned to Northern Road, neighbour Ray Davies said she seemed to enjoy her newfound celebrity.
“She walked around here like she was on top of the world,” he said. “I hope they catch her. And I hope they kill her.”
Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism specialist at the Swedish National Defence College, doubts Lewthwaite helped plan the subway attack, because the plotters would have been unlikely to jeopardise security by telling her about the scheme.
She would not be seen in public, or grant interviews, but Kenyan police — and her own writings — describe a woman willing to die for her cause.
In July 2010, a white woman calling herself Asmaa Shahidah Bint-Andrews registered at the exclusive eight-room Genesis birth clinic in the well-to-do Saxonwold suburb just outside Johannesburg. She paid her deposit in cash — 27,500 South African rands, about Dh10,000 at the time.
She did not want to give birth in a regular hospital, with its impersonal wards, but chose instead a more expensive water birth. She picked the Sage room, which featured a marble birthing pool, leather chairs and a private bathroom, recalled unit manager Tamzin Ingram.
