Jones was born in Greenwich, south-east London. Her parents divorced when she was a young child; her father took his own life when she was ten. Brought up as a Catholic, she participated in Christian youth groups while a teenager, leaving school at 16 and entering employment working for L’Oréal selling cosmetics.[6] A former punk rock guitarist and singer in a female band active in the 1990s called Krunch,[7] Before her departure for Syria, Jones is reported to have been living on welfare benefits (which she denied) in a council house in Chatham, Kent and to have used a food bank Spending much time on the internet, she became interested in witchcraft and alternative life-styles.[8][9]