Lewthwaite was born to parents
Andrew and Elizabeth Christine (née Allen) Lewthwaite in Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire, in 1983. Her father is a former British Army soldier who
served in the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and had met her mother while he was
stationed in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Following her birth the family
relocated for a short period to Northern Ireland, where her father worked as a
lorry driver, before settling permanently in Aylesbury. She attended Elmhurst middle
school and The Grangesecondary school in Aylesbury.
Her parents separated in 1994 and
friends subsequently reported that she was "badly affected by the
break-up" and "sought solace from Muslim neighbours who she believed
had a stronger family network.” By the age of 17 she had converted to Islam and
went on to study towards a degree in religion and politics at the School of
Oriental and African Studies in Russell Square, London, where she met Lindsay
in an Islamic chatroom. They arranged to meet at a Stop the War march in London
and subsequently married in October 2002, using their Islamic names Asmantara
and Jamal.
Three years later, on 7 July
2005, Lindsay blew himself up on a train travelling between King's Cross and
Russell Square tube stations, at 8:50 a.m. He killed 26 civilians in his
suicide attack. Lewthwaite was pregnant with their second child at the time of
his death, and their first child, a son, was 14 months old. Following the attacks Lewthwaite denied prior
knowledge of them. She publicly denounced her husband for the attacks, and was
granted police protection.
Lewthwaite is subsequently
believed to have met and married Habib Ghani. She gave birth to a third child
in August 2009. She moved to the north of England then later disappeared with
her children, and was believed to be in hiding in Tanzania or Somalia.
