[8] She is a fugitive from justice in Kenya, where she is wanted on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice requesting her arrest with a view to extradition.

[10] In September 2013, there was speculation over her possible involvement in the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall attack,[11] although other reports cast doubt on this, or said her role had been exaggerated.

[24] Lewthwaite's parents separated in 1994, and friends later reported that she was badly affected by the break-up and sought solace from Muslim neighbours who she believed had a stronger family network.

[15][19][22][26][28] She met Germaine Lindsay on the Internet and arranged to meet him at a Stop the War march in Hyde Park, London; they married in Aylesbury on 30 October 2002,[29] using the Islamic names Asmantara and Jamal.

[37] In September 2005, Lewthwaite was widely criticised for selling her story, in which she portrayed herself as a victim and her husband as a "relatively recent [convert]" who had been "tricked into his actions by extremists", to tabloid newspaper The Sun for £30,000.

[38][39] The Independent reported that Lewthwaite's account conflicted with evidence from Lindsay's sister that he had actually converted to Islam aged 15, and said that families of the victims were "unconvinced by her portrait of the bomber", while her "attempts to share the blame with others obscured the murder of innocent commuters".

"[38] The Daily Telegraph reported in September 2013 that Lewthwaite was subsequently believed to have met and married Habib Saleh Ghani, who was born in Hounslow, London in 1985.

Quoting anti-terrorist police in Kenya, the newspaper said in October 2013 that there was "no romantic relationship between the two", but that they were linked through their "associates in the same cell in Mombasa, that was intending to set off bombs in December 2011".

[47] In February 2012, anti-terrorist police in Nairobi, Kenya, issued an arrest warrant for a white woman using the false name of Natalie Faye Webb.

The woman was wanted in connection with links to an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell planning attacks in Kenya in reprisal for anti-terrorism operations being conducted in Somalia.

A "large team" of detectives from SO15, the Metropolitan Police Service's Counter Terrorism Command, travelled to Nairobi to assist with the investigation and attempts were launched to locate Lewthwaite in Britain.

[55] She was placed under surveillance by Kenyan police after moving into an apartment in Mombasa belonging to the former wife of terrorist financier Musa Hussein Abdi.

Abdi had been killed along with Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the leader of Al-Qaeda in East Africa, by Somali Armed Forces near Mogadishu, Somalia, in June 2011, and was believed to have been a key player in the funding of Al-Shabaab.

[60] Anti-terrorism investigators told the newspaper the child's father is believed to be Abdi Wahid, a former Kenyan naval officer who defected to al-Shabaab.

[46] In December 2011, Kenyan police raided a property in Mombasa and arrested Jermaine Grant, also known as Ali Mohammed Ibrahim, a 29-year-old British Muslim convert of Jamaican origin from Newham, London.

[61] Grant, who was using a forged Canadian passport in the name of Peter Joseph, was charged with possession of bomb-making materials and preparing to commit a felony.

[53][64] Kenyan police revealed Grant was already known to them after being arrested in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya in 2008 while attempting to travel to Somalia disguised as a woman wearing a burqa.

"[64] When police searched the property they found a laptop computer, magazines for an AK-47 assault rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, detonators and a photograph of Lewthwaite.

Attacks could be indiscriminate and target Kenyan institutions as well as places where expatriates and foreign travellers gather, such as hotels, shopping centres and beaches.

[71][75][76][77] On 4 January 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.

"[83] Lewthwaite's name was linked with the September 2013 attack claimed by Al-Shabaab on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, which left 71 dead and approximately 200 injured.

[9] Despite intense media speculation, these reports were viewed with caution by UK government officials, and there was no confirmation of Lewthwaite's involvement as an attacker, organiser or fundraiser.

"[84] On 5 October, Kenyan authorities named four people believed to have participated in the attack, all of whom they said were killed in the ensuing standoff with the country's military forces.

[85] In June 2014, the BBC reported that well-placed security sources indicated that they had reliable information that Lewthwaite was in Kenya, and that they had launched a large operation to find her.

However, Lamu Police Commander Leonard Omollo denied the allegations, indicating that the woman in question had been identified as a Spanish tourist who had since returned home.

[88][89] The backstory of one of the main antagonists in 24: Live Another Day Margot Al Hazari (who is known in the show as the Yorkshire Widow) was partially based on that of Lewthwaite.