In the wake of the mall massacre in Kenya, news outlets have begun reporting the involvement of a female in orchestrating the attacks. Samantha Lewthwaite, a muslim convert and widow of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, is an official spokesman for Al Shabaab an suspected to be behind a string of terrorist attacks in Africa. Here are nine other women who have stained history with their hideous deeds…

 9. Typhoid Mary 

Mary Mallon, or ‘Typhoid Mary,’ as history has dubbed her, gained her infamy from infecting civilians with the deadly fever.  The first identified asymptomatic carrier in the US, the disease followed Mary from job to job. After years of wreaking havoc on the families she cooked for and leaving no forwarding arrest, she was finally forced to give stool and urine samples and was found to be riddled with Typhoid Salmonella. Mary spent half her life in quarantine, dying there in 1938, with the death toll of the cook who ‘never washed her hands’ estimated at over 50.

 8. Bloody Mary

So far this list is only serving as a warning to avoid women called Mary. Queen Mary I got her appealing nickname by burning a crazy amount of Protestants, rather than being handy with a bottle of Tabasco and a shaker of Celery Salt. Mary wasn’t won over by her father’s religious reforms, refusing to convert like her brother and sister. As soon as Edward made his feeble impression upon history and Lady Jane Grey had naffed off, Mary jumped on that throne and began purging Protestants left right and centre. Even those who repented and converted ended up in the fire. During her reign Mary martyred ten times as many Protestants than her father, securing her place as one of the most ruthless leaders in British history.

 7. Bonnie Parker

Along with her partner Clyde Barrow, Bonnie went on a robbing spree through the Central United States, killing almost a dozen civilians on her way. Maybe not the most bloodthirsty dame on this list, but Miss Parker has become synonymous with the public enemy era of America’s history.

 6.Lucrezia Borgia

The Borgia family haven’t got the best reputation as it is. Pope Alexander was known for his power lust, whilst Cesare was a bit stab happy. But it was Lucrezia who you had to be worried of; Lucrezia was the Renaissance’s equivalent of a serial killer, poisoning unknown numbers of rivals in pursuit of social standing. Rumours range from her possessing a poisonous ring to her carrying out a incestous relations with her father and brother. She died whilst giving birth to her eighth child, avoiding any reprimand for her attacks.

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 5. Mata Hari

Hari was like something out of a Bond film. A beautiful dancer who escaped an oppressive husband to capitalise on the wave on Orientalism sweeping through Bohemian Paris at the time. After her exotic career she was rumoured to have worked as a double agent during the first world war, extracting secrets that were said to have cost 50,000 men their lives. Hari was eventually captured and executed in 1917, with her full role in the war’s espionage network never fully exposed.

4. Manson’s Women

The five central women of Manson’s cult were responsible for some of the most gruesome murders in recent memory. All were in some ways involved with the torture and murder of the family’s seven victims, with all five serving jail time for their participation.

 3. Sandra Avila Beltran

‘The Queen Of The Pacific,’ Sandra has made it onto this list by being one of the key figures in Mexico’s drug trade. Beltran has assisted some of Mexico’s most powerful drug lords uniting Mexico and Columbia’s most powerful Cartels with her relationship with Juan Diego Espinosa Ramirez. Beltran’s beauty and charm has made her a legend in Mexico, but be careful; both of her ex-husbands were murdered by hired assassins.

 2. Countess Elizabeth Bathory

Countess Elizabeth is probably more infamous for the acts she didn’t carry out than those she did. The Slovakian aristocrat, who was possible responsible for the death of over 200 girls, is famed for having bathed in the blood of her victims in an attempt to maintain her youth. Fortunately this is not true, although rumours suggest she may have gone as far as cannibalism with some young victims. Due to her status Bathory was never convicted, and instead lived out her life confined to her castle home.

 1. Irma Griese

The most notorious of the female Nazis, (which is a pretty big claim) Irma Griese was nineteen years old when she began working at Auschwitz and within months rose to the position of Senior SS-Supervisor, leaving her in charge of 30,000 female prisoners. Details of her tortuous reign describe her constant possession of a whip and pistol, which she would regularly use to beat and kill prisoners. Along with this she was flanked by a pack of half starved dogs who she would regularly set on inmates for her own amusement. She was executed in 1945, but not before lamp shades made out human skin were found in her home.