The widow of one of the July 7 suicide bombers told how her "innocent and naive" husband had been poisoned by elements in radical mosques as she cradled their new born baby daughter in her arms.
Samantha Lewthwaite said that she "totally abhorred" the actions of her husband Jermaine Lindsay, who killed 26 people on a Piccadilly Line tube train near King's Cross; but she said that she still wore the white gold ring her husband had given her and would pass it on to their first child, a son, Abdullah, when he marries. Ms Lewthwaite, 21, a Muslim convert, said that her husband had been a peaceful man whose behaviour changed when he began visiting mosques in London and Luton.
She said: "His behaviour gradually began to change. He turned from the man that I married. In hindsight I can now see exactly what was happening to him and why. How these people could have turned him and poisoned his mind is dreadful. He was an innocent, naive and simple man. I suppose he must have been an ideal candidate."
She said that Jamaican-born Lindsay started becoming a stranger to her when they moved from Huddersfield to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
"I firmly believe if we had stayed up North he would be the same Jamal," she said in an interview with The Sun newspaper, "but he got involved in mosques in London and Luton and became a changed person. In October through to November 2004 he met a group who changed his life. He became a man I didn't recognise. I have no doubt his mind was twisted in there."
She dismissed suggestions, however, that Lindsay had ever visited terror camps in Afghanistan, adding that he had wanted to visit Saudi Arabia to learn more about Islam.
Ms Lewthwaite said that, hours before Lindsay - she calls him Jamal - left on his bombing mission to London, she had ordered him out of their house because of suspicions he was having an affair. She said he had been vanishing for days at a time.
"He left with a holdall and a bunch of door keys," she said. "I went to bed. Later that night I'm sure I heard him on the stairs and going into Abdullah's room. He must have been there in the dead of night to kiss his little boy goodnight. I feel sure he couldn't have gone through with it without seeing him one last time. He kissed our child goodbye and then crept off to blow up King's Cross."
The couple, who married in October 2002 after meeting on the internet, first came face-to-face at a Stop the War march in Hyde Park. He told her then he wanted to qualify as a human rights lawyer and had been a member of Amnesty International at school. He said he wanted to make a difference to the world by peaceful means.
Ms Lewthwaite said it was because of her husband's love of people that she could not believe what he did.
"The killing of innocent British civilians by Jamal was something I could never comprehend because he was always a peaceful man who loved people," she said. "He was so angry when he saw Muslim civilians being killed on the streets of Iraq, Bosnia, Palestine and Israel - and always said it was the innocent who suffered. Then he is responsible for doing the same thing."
Six days after the July 7 carnage Ms Lewthwaite phoned the helpline to say her husband was missing. Soon afterwards police officers arrived and she was taken for questioning while their house was searched.
She said: "The next day they showed me Jamal on CCTV and said his DNA proved he was one of the bombers. My world collapsed, I was in tears thinking, 'Who was it who poisoned his brain?' These people managed to twist him so much that he could turn his back on those who meant so much. It shows why all good Muslims have to fight against evil.
"Jamal is accountable for his actions 100 per cent and I condemn with all my heart what he has done. I will try to remember for my children's sake the Jamal I loved and raise them knowing their father was a man who truly loved them; but the day will come when I'll have to tell them what he did."
Ms Lewthwaite, whose father was a serving British soldier when she was born in Northern Ireland, said after her conversion to Islam that she had been desperate to find a Muslim husband. She was "delighted" when she met Lindsay, who had left his Huddersfield school with 9 GCSEs.
Now living in a safe house with her children Abdullah, 17 months, and Ruqayyah, who was born 15 days ago, Ms Lewthwaite said she worried for their safety. She said: "I just hope people will understand I had nothing to do with this. We are victims as well."
David Sanderson
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