Wednesday, June 17, 2015
The mother of the British terrorist killed during an abortive raid at a military camp in Lamu on Sunday yesterday said his body would be buried in buried in Kenya.
Ms Sally Evans was quoted in The Times saying Thomas Evans spoke to her last in December 2014 and told her he did not want to go back to the United Kingdom.
Thomas, 25 from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, also told her not to mourn his death as he “would be in paradise”.
Ms Evans told The Times what her son said at the time, even predicting that he would be killed while fighting for Al-Shaabab.
“If I don’t come back, please don’t cry for me. I’ll be doing what I wanted to do. I’ll be happy in paradise,” he had said.
BRIGHT FUTURE
She said she would respect the wishes of her son who was among 15 terrorists killed on Sunday morning in Lamu by the Kenya Defence Forces soldiers.
“Tom never wanted to come back to the UK. So do I fulfil his wishes? As his mother, I guess that’s the last thing I can do for him. I’d only be bringing him back for my selfish purposes,” she said.
“I’m relieved that he is no longer in a position where he can hurt people. I thank God he wasn’t a suicide bomber. He didn’t take a lots of other people with him. I am thankful for that.”
At the same time, a forensic examination confirmed that Thomas Evans died in the fight.
A security official told the Nation that DNA tests conducted on the body showed a perfect match and the details were shared with British authorities.
In a BBC interview uploaded on internet, Ms Evans described her son as the “little boy who had a bright future before he went down the path he went down.”
Asked how he took that path, she said: “He obviously met some people with very twisted and warped ideas of Islam. I mean there is nothing Islam the way they are practising it. Nothing at all.”
Ms Evans added: “He believed if he followed Islam, he would go to paradise and that is what he wanted. He was always trying to convert us.”
Thomas Evans’ brother, Michael, sat by her side and looked equally devastated.
PROUD OF HER SONS
Ms Evans said she was proud of her sons.
She said she believed those who deluded Thomas lived in the neighbourhood.
Michael said his brother may have picked the ideas online.
Ms Evans first heard of her son’s death from a journalist who called her on phone while Michael leant of it on social media.
“I looked on Twitter and the first thing I found was the picture of his body. I had no doubt it was him,” he said.
Ms Evans blamed the British police for allowing her son to travel outside the country yet he was on their watch list.
“Why didn’t they take his passport if they had concerns about him? Why didn’t they speak to us? If I had known I could take his passport. When I heard he was flying to Egypt, I thought there was nothing to worry about,” Ms Evans added.
In 2011, Thomas was turned away by police officers at Heathrow Airport as he attempted to travel to Kenya.