The White Widow's Lair: The South African safehouse in suburbia where world's most wanted woman 'lived for months in hiding' ahead of Kenyan mall massacre

• Modest home of Samantha Lewthwaite - world's most wanted woman
• Tidy house in Johannesburg suburb 'one of a number' rented under alias
• She is wanted by authorities over alleged involvement in a 2011 bomb plot
• Speculation has grown over her involvement in Kenyan mall massacre

With green bins dutifully placed out on the street, flowering garden peeking from behind a white gate, and a carefully tended entrance, it looks for all the world like any other suburban family home. But this is believed to be the South African lair where Samantha Lewthwaite - who Interpol last night named the world's most wanted woman - is believed to have spent months in hiding. The images have emerged amid growing speculation that she masterminded the bloody Nairobi mall massacre which has left at least 72 dead. The tidy home in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Bromhof, is said to be one of a number that Lewthwaite rented under an alias, allowing her to run up debts of around £5,500.

With green bins dutifully placed out on the street, flowering garden peeking from behind a white gate, and a carefully tended entrance, it looks for all the world like any other suburban family home

But this is believed to be the South African lair from which Samantha Lewthwaite - who Interpol last night named the world's most wanted woman - is believed to have masterminded the bloody Nairobi mall massacre

The tidy home in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Bromhof, is said to be one of a number that Lewthwaite rented under an alias, allowing her to run up debts of $8,600

Residents, who claim she lived in this house in the quiet neighbourhood for three months, may have known her as Natalie Faye Webb. In fact she was the wanted widow of London bomber Germaine Lindsay, who blew up a Piccadilly Line tube in 2005, killing 26 people. The mother-of-four is being hunted by Kenyan authorities over alleged involvement in a plot to bomb holiday resorts there. They say that Lewthwaite had gained a South African passport using the assumed identity of Webb and the document was cancelled in 2011. But there has been increasing speculation about her possible involvement in last week's attack on a Nairobi mall after a Kenyan minister said a British woman was in the group. British police have also cited Lewthwaite as a possible suspect. Two neighbours in Bromhof told AFP they recognised Lewthwaite's picture. Herbie Ullbricht, 69, who lived two houses away from her address cited in credit reports, said the woman lived there in '2010 or 2011' with her three children, and she was always dressed from head to toe in a hijab. Her children stayed inside and never played with the other children in the street. 'Three to four months she stayed. After that I never saw her again. She kept to herself. No one knew her,' he told AFP. The area has undergone a concerted rejuvenation programme in recent times, with families escaping the noise of the city, to set up a quieter home in its outskirts. In the nearby vibrant town of Randburg, young people buy properties in upmarket areas, with restaurants and shopping centres on almost every corner. In her home town of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, she was described as a bubbly teenager, and schoolfriends said she had an ordinary upbringing. Local councillor Raj Khan said: 'She was an average British, young ordinary girl. She didn't have very good confidence.'

The mother-of-three is being hunted by Kenyan authorities over alleged involvement in a plot to bomb holiday resorts there. But there has been increasing speculation about her possible involvement in last week's attack on a Nairobi mall

South African television station ENCA said credit records showed Lewthwaite racked up debts of nearly 30,000 rand ($3,000) to two leading South African banks during her time in the country and owed nearly $1,000 to two clothing stores. Radio reports said she worked as an IT specialist for a halal pie shop in Lenasia, a south Johannesburg suburb known for its Muslim population. The current death toll from the bloody four day siege at the Westgate Shopping mall is 72 and is likely to climb with uncounted bodies remaining in the wreckage. Another 175 people were injured, including more than 60 who remain in hospital. At least 18 foreigners were among those killed. The Interpol notice made no mention of Westgate, however, saying that Lewthwaite is wanted on charges of possessing explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony in December 2011. It is not clear why the notice has been issued now. African authorities have linked her to other attacks as well - again, without presenting evidence of her involvement. She is believed to have been questioned by police once but was not taken into custody. Earlier this week British anti-terror officers yesterday told a court how a colourful selection of sexy underwear was found at one of the ‘White Widow’s’ Kenyan safe houses. Both Lewthwaite and Grant, 29, from Newham, east London, have been charged with planning to cause the loss of lives and possessing bomb-making chemicals.

Evidence: Samantha Lewthwaite (left) and Jermaine Grant (right), both 29, from Newham, east London, have been charged with planning to cause the loss of lives and possessing bomb-making chemicals

Giving evidence at the trial of Samantha Lewthwaite’s accomplice, Jermaine Grant, in Mombasa, Scotland Yard counter-terrorism detective Robert Garrick said police retrieved a collection of pink, black and red lingerie along with the Muslim convert’s birth certificate. The villa, in the Nyali district of the Indian Ocean resort, was one of five being rented by Lewthwaite, 29, before police foiled her and Grant’s plot to blow up British tourists in December 2011.

These include electrical switches, acetone, hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate - the same chemical used by Lewthwaite’s husband Jermaine Lindsay when he blew up a Piccadilly Line tube in 2005, killing 26 people. A team of anti-terror officers, who have been working with the Kenyan police, flew to Mombasa to give evidence at Grant’s trial. Yesterday, soldiers told of the horrific torture meted out by terrorists in the Nairobi mall massacre yesterday with claims hostages were dismembered, had their eyes gouged out and were left hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed with pliers before being blinded and hanged. Children were found dead in the food court fridges with knives still embedded in their bodies, it was claimed.

Soldiers have told of the horrific torture meted out by terrorists in the Nairobi mall massacre yesterday as the first pictures of inside the centre have emerged

Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed with pliers before being blinded and hanged during the four day siege

Pictured is the aftermath at Westgate Shopping Mall where the roof of the car park collapsed crushing three floors

Most of the defeated terrorists, meanwhile, were reportedly discovered ‘burnt to ashes’, set alight by the last extremist standing to try to protect their identities. The horrifying details came yesterday as the first pictures emerged from within the wreckage of the building, showing piles of bodies left strewn across the floor. A third of the mall was destroyed in the battle between terrorists and Kenyan troops. Lying in the rubble are feared to be the bodies of as many as 71 civilians who have been declared missing by the Kenyan Red Cross. With detectives, including the FBI and the Metropolitan Police, still unable to reach the wrecked part of the mall for fear of setting off explosives, it could take up to a week to determine exactly who is still inside.

Yesterday, soldiers and doctors who were among the first people into the mall after it was reclaimed on Tuesday, spoke of the horrifying scenes inside

Bomb disposal experts with sniffer dogs were yesterday painstakingly combing the part of the building still standing for explosives before clearing forensic officers, police and troops to search for bodies

The collapse happened on Monday when government troops launched a massive assault on the mall where up to 150 people are thought to have been killed