A British terror suspect linked to the notorious White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite has been returned to the UK from Kenya after serving a lengthy jail term in the African nation for possessing bomb-making materials and forgery.
Jermaine Grant was flown back to Britain on Thursday accompanied by Kenyan officials and immediately arrested upon his return.
A Kenyan court last year ordered Grant to be deported once his prison sentence had elapsed following a case made by prosecutors for him to be kicked out.
Investigators have linked him to Samantha Lewthwaite, the wife of 7/7 terrorist bomber Germaine Lindsay.
Grant was apprehended by the authorities trying to cross into Somalia while reportedly disguised as a woman in a burka after they found bomb-making materials in his flat.
He was then sentenced to four years in prison in 2019, to be served alongside a separate nine-year sentence for forgery.
A government spokesperson told : ‘We can confirm that an individual was deported to the UK following the completion of a criminal sentence in Kenya.
‘Our priority remains to ensure the safety and security of the UK.
‘We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect the UK and have one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world to ensure this.’
Grant, a Muslim convert, was arrested by Kenyan police in a flat in Mombasa in December 2011. They believed he had been planning a bombing campaign against hotels popular with foreign tourists.
Investigators found chemicals, switches and a manual on explosives in the apartment, which he is believed to have shared with Lewthwaite, known as the White Widow.
Lewthwaite is suspected of orchestrating a deadly 2013 shopping centre attack at the Westgate in Nairobi that killed more than 60 people.
When police swooped on Grant’s flat Lewthwaite had fled, escaping just minutes earlier after Grant allegedly warned her with a text message.
It read: ‘The lions are inside. One of them is very watchful, like a bird watches a stone.’
She remains at large and has not been seen since.