The identity of the suspect pictured carrying bloodied knives in the aftermath of the murder of a British soldier Royal Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, has been confirmed to be Michael Olumide Adebolajo.
Michael Adebolajo, who was arrested for hacking the soldier to death in Woolwich, was brought up a devout Christian. But he rebelled against his parents and turned to Islam.
Adebolajo was an ordinary British schoolboy; born in Lambeth in December 1984, has 2 siblings; a sister and a brother and staunchly church-going parents who are of Nigerian origin.
But at 15 he descended into a world where he was consumed with Jihadism and later joined several Islamist groups banned in Britain because they are considered so extreme.
'He was a Christian. A nice, normal guy. All his friends were white and used to go round to each other’s houses all the time', a former friend told the Evening Standard. 'He started getting involved with Islam aged about 15 or 16, and that is why his parents moved him away out of the area.
Kemi Ibrahim, 45, who lived next door, described him as a regular teenage boy but she explained how he was often getting into rows with his parents, which could have been over his conversion to Islam.
'The parents were trying to keep him on the straight and narrow. They thought he was busy with these guys leading him a stray,' she said.
'The last memory I can say was when he had a go with his parents and took a brick and just smashed it on the windscreen of their car. He just took the brick and smashed it on the car. I think he was about 17.'
In 2003, Michael Adebolajo converted to Islam and began calling himself Mujahid, which means a Muslim who takes part in jihadist actions.
Adebolajo is said to have joined the banned Islamist organisation Al Muhajiroun, which promotes Sharia law, and other controversial groups banned under the Terrorism Act.
Insiders said he left these groups two years ago, but just last week he had been seen preaching in Woolwich town centre.
He is said to have been well-known on the Islamic extremist scene in Britain and may have been stopped or arrested on his way to join the militant Islamist group Al Shabaab in Somalia in the past year.
However, the two suspects are not thought to have links to terror groups based in Nigeria, such as the jihadist militant organisation Boko Haram.
Police had sealed off Adebolajo's sister's home in Romford on Thursday and Local media says police raided the home of his Nigerian family in a village near the eastern English city of Lincoln.
Both suspects in the attack, conducted in broad daylight on Wednesday afternoon, are in custody after being shot by police
