Manchester synagogue terrorist Jihad al-Shamie ‘made ex-partner watch extreme ISIS videos & wanted to join terror group’ – The Sun
AN EX-girlfriend of the Manchester synagogue attacker was forced to watch Isis terror videos, she has claimed.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, unleashed terror outside Manchester’s Heaton Park synagogue on Thursday, leaving two dead and three more in hospital.
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The seven-minute knife rampage took place on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar – Yom Kippur – with the killer then shot dead by cops.
A former partner has now claimed she was groomed by Al-Shamie and forced into a “controlling relationship”.
The pair, who met on a Muslim dating app, were in a relationship for four months before she left him over his extremist views, and moved from the UK.
She claimed Al-Shamie told her he wanted to join Isis and also pressured her to become “dedicated to the cause”.
She said: “He used to sit there and make me watch videos – like extreme videos – that I had no interest in.
“I am Muslim and of course I love to learn more. But this stuff was things that I have been raised to not agree with.
“He used to always say I was taught the wrong way and I wasn’t taught right. He was basically just trying to groom me into what he thought.”
Meanwhile, as reported by The Mail on Sunday, it has been revealed one of the women arrested by cops over the synagogue attack was an NHS Mental health peer support worker.
The 46-year-old is a white British woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and neighbours claimed she had recently converted to Islam.
“I was doing such a course, and she told me she was a peer support worker herself,” said one local.
“She said she travelled to Manchester for her shifts at a hospital.”
Al-Shamie is also believed to have been married to a British Pakistani woman in Manchester.
It is understood they share a two-year-old child, but are no longer in a relationship.
A former friend of Al-Shamie also revealed he was teenage drop-out who smoked weed and was obsessed with violent video game Street Fighter.
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The friend told The Sun on Sunday that killer Al-Shamie would smoke around 2g of strong skunk a day when he was a teen and frequently felt the wrath of his parents.
And he said he spent hours in his bedroom playing the computer game using the name “Jiji”.
His obsession led to Al-Shamie dropping out of Liverpool John Moores University a year into his English, media and cultural studies degree course in 2011.
The former pal said: “He was a bit of a rebellious wild child. He got into a lot of trouble with his parents. He used to smoke cannabis from an early age.
“He would spend a lot of time practising Street Fighter, like obsessively practising this computer game. He was very good at it, to the point where he competed a couple of times in competitions.”
The source added: “It was probably why he dropped out of uni.
“He was spending too much time smoking weed, working out and playing video games.”
He added: “His personality type, he would latch on to one thing and get buried deep into it. The only thing I can think of is that he’s done that but with radical religion.”
Al-Shamie, whose name is said to translate as “struggle of the Syrian” became “reclusive” after dropping out of education and started to practice Islam around 2018.
Neighbours said he would spend his time lifting weights in his garage or wander around in his pyjamas and flip flops.
The pal, who lost touch with him, said: “I heard he became a bit reclusive and appeared to be very into his faith, which surprised me as he was never that kind of guy.
“There were some concerns about his mental health. I don’t know if he ever got professional help.”
He said he was worried Al-Shamie would go down a “rabbit hole”, adding: “He had an addictive personality. My suspicion is that he ended up self-radicalising.”
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Al-Shamie moved to the UK from Syria with his family when he was a young child and was granted British citizenship in 2006.
His father Faraj is a trauma doctor who later divorced his mother Formoz and moved to France.
This comes as four people arrested in connection with the synagogue terror attack will remain in custody for extra questioning.
Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed in the rampage before Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed cops.
Six people have now been arrested on terror charges following the chaos.
Cops confirmed they have been granted custody extensions to hold four people detained in connection with the attack on the Crumpsall synagogue for a longer amount of time.
Two men, aged 30 and 32, as well as a 61-year-old woman arrested in Farnworth will remain in custody for “up to a further five days”.
The force added how an 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, also arrested in Farnworth, remain in custody for questioning.
Greater Manchester Police said: “We have been granted warrants of further detention for four individuals currently in custody.
“This means they can remain in custody for up to a further five days.
“Everyone in custody has been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.”
Everyone in custody has been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.
Al-Shamie first drove into worshippers at the Heaton Park synagogue at 9.30am on Thursday morning.
He also stabbed terrified members of the public while wearing a fake “bomb vest” – killing Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53.
Four others were injured in the horror.
Counter-terrorism officers have since revealed the attacker was likely influenced by “extreme Islamist ideology”.
A statement from Greater Manchester Police read: “We believe Al-Shamie may have been influenced by extreme Islamist ideology.
“Establishing the full circumstances of the attack is likely to take some time.
“We have now arrested three further people, one man and two women, aged between 18 and mid-40s.
“This brings the number of people in custody arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism to six.”
Al-Shamie was not known counter-terrorism agencies but had previous convictions.
It is not known when the alleged rape took place but the attacker was under investigation by Greater Manchester Police at the time.
GMP confirmed to The Sun Online al-Shamie was arrested but had been released pending investigation.
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