I struggled to stop my son from becoming an extremist – Mother of Woolwich Murderer

The mother of one of the men arrested for beheading a British soldier on a London street had “struggled” to control her wayward son after he became radicalized, neighbors close to the family have said.
Daily Mail reports that Juliet Obasuyi, mother of 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, battled to turn him against extremism and had become concerned by his behavior.

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The Daily Telegraph reports that Mrs. Obasuyi, 43, had gone to a security officer neighbor about nine months ago when Adebowale dropped out Greenwich University.
Mrs Obasuyi complained to her 62-year-old neighbor that her son no longer listened to her.
Like his accomplice Michael Adebolajo, 28, Adebowale too was born into a Christian family before he converted to Islam three years ago in his late teens.
The neighbor told the Daily Telegraph that Adebowale struggled with having no father figure, which led to “dropping out of university and handing out leaflets in Woolwich town centre.”
That was an activity both murder suspects had in common. Both Adebowale and Adebolajo met during their time at Greenwich University. They have both been seen handing out extremist leaflets in the southeast London area.
Reports say both Britons of Nigerian descent were among 3,000 extremists being monitored by British counter-terrorism authorities.
Both Adebowale and Adebolajo were gunned down and arrested on Saturday minutes after they struck down and hacked to death Drummer Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old soldier and father of a two-year-old son.
As authorities continue to investigate both suspects, more details emerge about what caused both young men to commit the politically-motivated heinous crime.
They have since linked Adebolajo to Al Muhajiroun, an Islamist group that was banned after the 7/7 attacks in London.
The radical former leader of the group, Anjem Choudary, confirmed knowing Adebolajo and seeing him in meetings and at rallies.
Adebowale, according to neighbourts, was radicalized after trying to “escape gangland trouble” with a group known as Woolwich Boys, the Daily Mail reports.

There was a noted change in his character in the past year.
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “Michael would always say hello and play with my children, but in the last year he stopped. He would just ignore us when we saw him at the lift.
“He used to talk to me very enthusiastically about cooking and his recipes. He loved Jamie Oliver and had his books.”
Other friends of the family said his mother, described as a hardworking woman of Christian faith, had often been in tears when she spoke of her son and was extremely worried.
His father, Adeniyi Adebowale, lives on a property in Holloway, North London.
They divorced shortly after Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale was born in May 1991 in Denmark Hill, South London.

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