Manchester terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie was married to at least three women simultaneously and had a complicated love life, it has been revealed.
The 35-year-old used Muslim dating app Muzz, previously known as Muzmatch, to message a litany of women under the alias “J,” claiming he was a data analyst of “Syrian mixed heritage”.
The former RAC call handler told his secret second wife that she was “the only woman I want,” only for her to later discover he was still married to his first wife, Ikra Sulehman.
He married his second wife during a lockdown Zoom call in a ceremony that lasted “10 to 15 minutes”.
Their relationship was doomed, however, as she repeatedly asked for a divorce, but he dismissed her pleas as merely a “natural” emotional reaction.
He met his second wife on the Muzz app in 2021, before marrying a third woman, a 35-year-old NHS worker named Elizabeth Davis, who has five children from previous relationships.
The second wife told the Daily Mail about Al-Shamie’s “intimidating” and “aggressive” nature, as well as his obsession with foreign TV news channels.
But despite her concerns about his behaviour, she never believed he was capable of carrying out the heinous act in Manchester that left two dead and three more in hospital with serious injuries.
Jihad Al-Shamie attacked the synagogue on Yom Kippur – the most holy day in the Jewish calendar
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FACEBOOK“One minute he can talk nice, then it’s like flipping a switch,” the woman said.
She is now assisting counter-terror police in their efforts to probe his background.
When they first met, he seemed like a “nice, genuine, normal” person, she said.
“But then he would be like, ‘I’m outside yours, where are you?’ — turning up whenever he felt like it.”
The terrorist used to “slate” her, the woman claimed, saying no man would want to be with her because of her “baggage”.
She spoke out about enduring a “rollercoaster” on-off long-distance relationship in which Al-Shamie lied about his intentions to move closer and have children with her.
In a voice note, Al-Shamie told her: “I miss you a lot, I’m crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you.
“You’re the only woman that I want in my life; you’re the only woman that’s ever made me feel like this before.
“The only woman that I have a connection like this with.”
Al-Shamie was said to be addicted to foreign news channels but never spoke about the situation in Gaza.
“He was glued to his phone watching the news,” she told the Mail.
Al-Shamie was controlling, his second wife said
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“He was just big on going to the mosque and praying.”
Al-Shamie was also fixated on self-care, insisting she avoid “nasty” Red Bull and instead drink only water.
She spoke of her shock at the horror attack in Manchester, saying her first thought was: “Why?
“I’ve let you in my home, I’ve given you my time, you’ve harassed me for years, you married me and wouldn’t divorce me, so I’m technically married to him to this day.
“I wouldn’t say he had the mindset of being a terrorist, personally, from what I knew of him.
“But at the same time, how aggressive he was, how manipulative he was, was he this terrorist all along, or was he crying out for help? Who knows?”
The terrorist claimed responsibility for his act in a 999 call after driving at people in his car outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Crumpsall, Manchester, last Thursday morning.
Jewish worshippers were attending the place of worship for the holy day of Yom Kippur.
He then carried out a frenzied knife attack while trying to storm the synagogue, wearing a fake suicide belt, before being shot dead by police.
Melvin Cravitz, a 66-year-old father of three, was killed, along with 53-year-old Adrian Daulby.
The latter is believed to have been inadvertently shot by police as he ran to block the synagogue doors to stop Al-Shamie from getting inside.
Counter-terrorism officers believe the Syrian-born UK citizen was influenced by extremist Islamist ideology.
MI5 has yet to establish any links between Al-Shamie and Islamic State, despite his claim to have acted on behalf of the terror group.