Jermaine's wife `thought he was having an affair'

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), July 29, 2005

Byline: Andrew Jackson ,

Bomber's secret life shocked nation

britain's deadliest suicide bomber had been thrown out of his marital home just two days before he killed 25 people - because his wife believed he was having an affair.

Jermaine Lindsay's behaviour had become increasingly erratic in the run-up to July 7 terrorist bombings.

Just two days before he wreaked terrible devastation on unsuspecting commuters, his 21-year-old wife Samantha Lewthwaite, who was pregnant with the couple's second child, decided she had had enough.

She had no proof of an affair but believed he was acting oddly.

He would secretly send text messages and disappear two or three times a week.

After he left, his wife believed her marriage to be over.

It would be a week before it became clear that the "loving, family man" she lived with was one of the first wave of suicide bomber to attack London.

The couple were from different worlds and a devotion to Islam was the thing which bound them together.

Middle-class Samantha, the son of a British soldier, and Jermaine, the sporty former Rawthorpe High pupil, met on the internet.

The pair, who had both recently converted to Islam, met in a chatroom.

Their relationship moved on from emails to phone calls and the exchange of photographs.

They finally met in October 2002.

They were married just minutes later.

The ceremony in a faceless Aylesbury terraced house had just four witnesses - no family and friends.

Samantha, 18, who had left the youthful atmosphere of her sixth form just months earlier, and Jermaine, 17, who had trained as a carpet fitter, promised themselves to each other.

The `Al Nikah' ceremony had no legal status because it was not conducted in a mosque or a licensed place.

But the couple asked for Allah's help and guidance before settling into what appeared to be a normal marriage.

"They were very happy", a friend said. "Sam had seen a picture of him and had been told a lot about him before the wedding. I was amazed that the union worked, but it did."

Less than three years later Samantha became a widow, Jermaine's name went down in infamy and Britain changed.

Samantha Lewthwaite was born just before Christmas 1983 in the market town of Banbridge in County Down.

Banbridge was where her mother, Christine, had grown up and later married husband Andrew, a British soldier.

The couple moved to England to set up home in Buckinghamshire.

But after Samantha's two older siblings Allan and Sabrina were born the family moved back to Northern Ireland.

The family was moved again, this time to Aylesbury when Samantha was two.

Described as "carefree", Samantha was hit hard by her parents' separation when she was 11.

The youngster turned to Islam in multi-cultural Aylesbury.

One of the final pictures of Samantha in `Western' clothes was at her prom aged 16.

She danced the night away with teenage friends.

By 17 Samantha was wearing a jilbab - the long flowing gown that covers everything but the hands and face.

She met Jermaine just a few months later.

Jermaine had converted, along with his mother Maryam McLeod Ismaiyl, to Islam in 2000.

He was born in Jamaica but moved to the UK when he was just a few months old.

As a young man growing up in Rawthorpe he had been popular and well-liked.

His best friend, Maz Milenovic, met him at a summer playscheme seven years ago.

Mr Milenovic, said after Jermaine found Islam he became quieter and a deep thinker.

He added: "I remember hanging around at his house once and we were reading the Koran and talking about religion but he never preached to me.

"He would talk about doing the right thing and living the right way."

Fellow pupils at Rawthorpe High spoke of a Jermaine who was keen to prove his worth and authority.

Classmates talked about a Jermaine who used to compete in arm-wrestling contests and was a star in the soccer team.

After leaving school Jermaine embarked on training and also explored deeper into his faith.

He used chatrooms to speak to other Muslims.

When Samantha and Jermaine first met on line no-one, inside or outside the marriage which would develop, could imagine his name would soon become synonymous with hate and fear.