Jail my son to stop him dying a jihadist in Africa: Mother's plea as Muslim convert joins terror group



Thomas Evans from Buckinghamshire converted to Islam at aged of 19



Changed his name to Abdul Hakim and lost all interest in his hobbies



Travelled to Somalia in 2011 to fight alongside terror group al-Shabaab



Mother Sally Evans, 56, fears he could become a suicide bomber

She keeps police informed of his activities when he gets in contact



Says she'd rather see him behind bars than fighting with terror group



A mother has been supplying police with information about her Muslim convert son, who travelled to Somalia in hope of becoming a suicide bomber.

Sally Evans took action because she fears that 24-year-old Thomas will kill innocent people after joining the Islamist Al Shabaab group behind atrocities in neighbouring Kenya.

The 56-year-old said she would rather see her son in a British prison than dying for his ‘warped ideology’ in a foreign country.

Thomas Evans, now known as Abdul Hakim, who has converted to Islam and is now fighting in Somalia after joining the terrorist group al-Shabaab

‘I did tell police what happened because I have nothing to hide,’ said Mrs Evans, of Wooburn Green in Buckinghamshire.

‘I would rather have Thomas alive behind bars than dead in the middle of nowhere because he wouldn’t just die innocently but die doing something that he shouldn’t be doing.

Mother: Sally Evans, whose son Thomas (black shirt), has converted to Islam and is fighting with Al Shabab in Somalia. Her other son Micheal is in red

‘And if he took other lives, how do you live with this? If he was a suicide bomber, how would I live with that?’

In a phone conversation with her son that police were made aware of, Mrs Evans asked if he was thinking of becoming a suicide bomber. She told the Sunday Times he replied: ‘If asked, I would, Inshallah [God willing].’

About 50 British jihadists are believed to have gone to Somalia to join Al Shabaab. Hundreds have also travelled to Syria to take part in the civil war, prompting police to urge women to report male relatives planning to go abroad to become terrorists.

Mrs Evans told the Daily Mail that her son left school at 16 and had been a ‘normal’ boy until he became depressed after splitting with a long-term girlfriend and slipped into ‘troublemaking’.

Evans converted to Islam when he was 19 and adopted the Islamic name Abdul Hakim. His beliefs became increasingly fundamental after he started going to a small prayer centre.

Now with a beard and shaved head, he tried to convince his mother and younger brother Micheal to become Muslims, saying: ‘I want you to convert to Islam, otherwise you will burn in hell.’

Divorcee Mrs Evans said one of the few friends he brought to her house was Donald Stewart-Whyte.

Another convert, Stewart-Whyte was arrested in 2006 in connection with the liquid bomb plot to blow up planes but was later cleared of any involvement.

'Normal boy': Thomas at his home in Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire, when he was about 18 years old

Evans attempted to fly to Kenya in February 2011 but was blocked by anti-terrorism police at Heathrow. A few months later he went to Egypt, saying he was planning to study Arabic.

Police later informed his mother he had been trying to enter Kenya. It wasn’t until January 2012 that he phoned and told her he was in Somalia and was prepared to die for his Islamist beliefs.

He said she wouldn’t see him again. In August that year he claimed he had been shot in the leg and treated at a ‘field hospital’.

Mrs Evans added: ‘I am heartbroken at his decision to leave me and his brother to follow a warped ideology but I still love him. I wish they had a magic wand to bring him back.’