Landlady to 9/11 hijackers reveals their links to alleged Saudi spy

Holly Ratchford struggles to comprehend that a man who once resided in a complex she managed would later face accusations of involvement in one of the most tragic events in recent American history.

She confided in the BBC that she finds it almost impossible to reconcile the individual he claimed to be with his true identity, admitting she still grapples with this understanding.

Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national in his early forties, settled into the San Diego, California complex with his family in September 1999.

The new occupant of apartment 152 at Parkwood Apartments quickly became a regular at Ratchford's social gatherings by the pool. She remembers him as consistently cheerful, smiling, and exceedingly friendly.

Several months later, Bayoumi introduced Ratchford to two seemingly ordinary and courteous men, who subsequently also became her neighbours.

These two individuals would later gain notoriety for their role in the 9/11 attacks, specifically for hijacking American Airlines flight 77 and crashing it into the Pentagon.

For the past quarter-century, Ratchford has been haunted by her association with these three individuals, feeling that Bayoumi deceived her from their initial encounter.

She recalled that he frequently attended her parties and actively participated in the activities, adding that his family would often invite her over for meals.

However, Bayoumi, the former resident of 152 Parkwood, is now a central figure in a one trillion dollar (£733 billion) lawsuit filed against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by thousands of victim families and survivors of 9/11.

On September 11, 2001, nineteen members of the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial aircraft. Besides the crash into the Pentagon, the US military's headquarters near Washington D.C., two other planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, leading to both buildings' collapse. The fourth aircraft went down in a Pennsylvania field after passengers resisted the hijackers.

In total, close to 3,000 individuals lost their lives, including approximately 300 firefighters and other first responders at the World Trade Center site.

Bayoumi is suspected of assisting the 9/11 plot by supporting the first two hijackers to enter the US, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who lived at Parkwood for several months before the attacks.

A year prior, the federal judge overseeing the 9/11 families' lawsuit in New York determined that the evidence established a "reasonable inference" that Bayoumi and a Saudi diplomat stationed in the US had been "co-ordinating with the Saudi government when providing assistance to the hijackers."

This judicial ruling has allowed the families' case to progress. Saudi Arabia is appealing the decision, and both it and Bayoumi have consistently denied the allegations.

Since the attacks, Bayoumi has been the subject of numerous reports and much speculation.

Ratchford, who observed his interactions with the hijackers and witnessed him provide crucial assistance to them, has submitted a sealed testimony to the New York court.

After unwittingly becoming entangled in the inquiry into what the US government has described as "the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history," she relocated to one of the most remote areas of the United States.

I located her in the high desert of the western US, an area known for rattlesnakes. She informed me that she deliberately avoided news and specifically journalists, but to my surprise, she agreed to speak with me.