Deadly trail of the 'White Widow'

Samantha Lewthwaite is officially the most-wanted woman in the world.

As a terror suspect for her role in bombings and, unofficially, a key suspect in the Nairobi mall massacre, the woman who once famously distanced herself from her suicide-bomber husband appears to have evolved into a leading figure in al-Shabab.

Little is known about the young woman beyond these key moments in her life:

December 5 1983: Born Samantha Louise Lewthwaite to Andrew and Elizabeth. Andrew is a former British Army soldier and the family spent time in Northern Ireland, where he drove trucks. They then settled in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, where she attended school.

1994: Her parents separate. Reports later claim she was badly affected by their splitting up.

1999: At the age of 17, she converts to Islam and in a Muslim internet chat room meets Germaine Lindsay.

October 2002: She marries Lindsay in a ceremony that her parents refuse to attend.

July 7 2005: Lindsay takes part in one of the biggest terror attacks on British soil as a member of a group of suicide bombers who target trains and buses in London, killing 56 people and injuring more than 700. Lewthwaite, pregnant with their second child, claims to have known nothing of her husband's plans.

September 2005: Lewthwaite gives an exclusive interview to the British tabloid The Sun, for which she reportedly receives £30000. She calls the bombings a "horrific" act.

Between 2005 and 2011: She disappears off the radar, entering South Africa possibly under her real name. Later she assumes the name Natalie Faye Webb. During this time she works at a pie factory, racks up debt and lives in at least two Johannesburg suburbs.

February 26 2011: Lewthwaite enters Kenya, using a fraudulently obtained South African passport under the name Natalie Faye Webb.

August 26 2011: She re-enters Kenya, although no record is available of her departure in the first place.

November 21 2011: She is spotted entering again Kenya with the South African passport.

December 2011: Kenyan authorities find explosive devices, ammunition and cash in an apartment in Mombasa. It becomes known that a number of countries, including the US, have an interest in finding her.

March 2012: Reports surface that intelligence agencies are looking for Lewthwaite, who is using the alias Natalie Faye Webb and travelling on a South African passport.

June 24 2012: An attack on a bar in Mombasa where people are watching a soccer game in the Euro 2012 competition leaves three dead. Police say they believe she was instrumental in the attack.

September 21 2013: An attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi leaves more than 70 people dead. Speculation reaches fever pitch that the "White Widow" - a moniker given to Lewthwaite by the British press - was the mastermind behind the attacks.

September 26 2013: Interpol issues a red notice for Lewthwaite, asking countries to arrest her should she attempt to enter. - Werner Swart