The mother of a suspected Islamic terrorist who allegedly
hacked a British soldier to death tried desperately to turn him away from
extremism but “could not get through”, according to friends.
Michael Adebowale, the 22-year-old son of a Christian probation officer and a member of staff at the Nigerian High Commission, was filmed holding a bloodied cleaver in his hand after Drummer Lee Rigby was butchered in a London street. Friends said he had been a “lovely boy” but became involved in some “serious trouble” as a teenager and then turned to Islam. He started mixing with some “bad people” and became increasingly extreme in his views.
Michael Adebowale, the 22-year-old son of a Christian probation officer and a member of staff at the Nigerian High Commission, was filmed holding a bloodied cleaver in his hand after Drummer Lee Rigby was butchered in a London street. Friends said he had been a “lovely boy” but became involved in some “serious trouble” as a teenager and then turned to Islam. He started mixing with some “bad people” and became increasingly extreme in his views.
His mother Juliet Obasuyi, a
43-year-old probation officer, went to her friend and neighbour, a 62-year-old
security officer, for help about nine months ago after her son dropped out of
university.
She told him: “Michael is not
listening any more. His older sister is a good Christian with a degree but
Michael is rebelling as he has no father figure, dropping out of university and
handing out leaflets in Woolwich town centre.
“He is from a strong Christian family
but he is turning to Islam and turning against the family. He is preaching in
the streets. He needs spiritual guidance before he radicalises himself.”
Another friend, Steve Adebiyi, who
started a company with Mrs Obasuyi, said she was often left in tears after
speaking to him on the phone. “The boy was giving the mother problems,” he
said. “She said he was in with some bad group and causing a lot of trouble.
They brainwashed him.”
He and Michael Adebolajo, the other
suspected terrorist, are thought to have met at Greenwich University.
His mother was advised by a neighbour
to take him to the head of the Woolwich mosque for spiritual guidance. He was
converted to Islam by the head Imam, and taken for weeks of “further training”
at a centre near Cambridge.
When he returned, however, he was
even more “radicalised” and his mother could no longer “get through to him”. A
spokesman for the mosque said they did not know if he attended or been
converted there.
She subsequently returned to Nigeria,
where she is pursuing a career in politics.
Neighbours in Greenwich said he had
been a “lovely boy” who was a keen Manchester United fan, but as a teenager
became “angry at a lot of things”.
Magdalene Edwards told Channel 4
News: “He was a lovely boy. Very gentle natured, very respectful to elderly
people.
“He was angry at a lot of things like
a lot of young people are. About a year ago is when I saw him with this whole
Muslim dress.
“I said to him are you a Muslim. And
he said yes, he’s gone that way now. I said just be careful, I’m aware that
there are some that ride on the coat tales of Islam and they’re really not
serving their cause.”
Adebowale’s father, Adeniyi, was born
in Nigeria but came to Britain to study at Canterbury University. He and Mrs
Obasuyi had a child, Michael, but subsequently split up.
His mother married twice but is now
understood to be single. She also started
a small fashion business. She raised Adebowale in Woolwich and Greenwich along
with his half sister.
Adebowale attended Kidbrooke School
in Greenwich, where friends said he was a “normal, smiling teenager”. Luqman
Ciise, one of his schoolmates, said: “I knew him personally, he was normal,
smiling all the time. His name was Toby… Still can’t believe this.”
According to a friend he and his
girlfriend, a fellow convert, became well-known in south-east London for
handing out extremist leaflets.
Adebowale’s father now works for the
Nigerian High Commission in a flat just yards froim Holloway prison in North
London. His flat was raided on Thursday morning.
A neighbour said: “He has lived here
for at least ten years. He is a very smart and polite man, who is known to
everyone as Niyi. On Thursday morning I was woken up by the sound of banging
and shouts of ‘armed police’. I looked out and police were running into Niyi’s
flat.
“I then heard them shout ‘No firearms
and No drugs’. I have got no idea what happened to Niyi, but I haven’t seen him
since.
“It came as a big shock because he is
a professional man who works at the Nigerian High Commission. He leaves
everyday in a collar and tie and does not get home until about 8pm.”
Source: The Telegraph
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