Samantha Lewthwaite

Samantha Louise Lewthwaite (; born 5 December 1983), also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite or the White Widow, is a British terrorist and suspected mass murderer who in the early 2010s was one of the Western world's most wanted terrorism suspects. Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 London terrorist bomber Germaine Lindsay, is accused of causing the deaths of more than 400 people. By 2022, Lewthwaite had not been heard of for many years.

Lewthwaite is alleged to be a member of the Somalia-based radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab. She is accused of orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship, and is believed to have been behind an attack on those watching football in a bar in Mombasa during Euro 2012. In September 2013, there was speculation over her possible involvement in the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall attack, although other reports cast doubt on this, or said her role had been exaggerated. She was dubbed the "White Widow" by the news media, a play on words referencing her race and the death of her first husband, and the practice of referring to Chechen female suicide bombers as "Black Widows".

Lewthwaite was born to parents Andrew and Elizabeth Christine (née Allen) Lewthwaite in Banbridge, County Down 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 lived for a short period in Northern Ireland, where her father worked as a lorry driver, before settling in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where she attended The Elmhurst School and The Grange School. She started a Bachelors degree in Politics and Religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, but dropped out.