Mother of Al-Shabab's Thomas Evans says 'world has fallen apart'

by Selina O'Grady and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

37 minutes ago

The mother of a British man killed while fighting for Islamist militant group al-Shabab in Kenya has told the BBC her "whole world has fallen apart".

Sally Evans, from Buckinghamshire, said a journalist had phoned to tell them Thomas, a Muslim convert, had died.
Her other son Michael said when he looked on Twitter, the first thing he found was a picture of Thomas's body.
"We remember him as being my brother, your son," he told the BBC. "But to everyone else he's just a terrorist."
Kenyan officials have confirmed the 25-year-old was killed on Sunday when al-Shabab fighters attacked a military base in the north of the country.
Militants armed with AK47s and grenades raided the base in Lamu County, close to the Somali border, and then stormed a nearby village. Eleven gunmen were killed in total and two Kenyan soldiers also died.
Evans, who changed his name to Abdul Hakim, contacted his family in 2012 to say he had travelled to Somalia to join the militant group.
At least 50 British citizens are believed to have joined al-Shabab - an al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia - which has been behind a series of high-profile attacks in Kenya and Somalia.

'Twisted views'

Ms Evans, from Wooburn Green, said she would remember Thomas as "the little boy who had a bright future before he went down the path he went down".
She said he had met "some people with some very twisted, warped ideas of Islam" in the local area to begin with, and was later influenced by online material.
"I'm very angry that they were prepared to put my son on the line but they are still here," she said. "They are not brave enough to go out there themselves."
At the age of 21, Evans announced he was moving to Kenya and bought a single plane ticket. He was turned back at the airport by police, but later sold his CDs and other possessions and told his family he was travelling to Egypt.
In August 2011, police came to their house and told them they had lost track of him. The following January he called and said he had joined al-Shabab.

Ms Evans repeated her claim that the British authorities had not done enough to stop him from travelling to Egypt.
"I don't understand why they didn't stop him. And if they had suspicions, why didn't they involve me? We could have worked together to save him and I wouldn't be in this situation now," she said.
"They should have taken his passport. If I'd have known I would have taken his passport but when they let him fly to Egypt, I thought there was nothing to worry about."