 Born John Bateman , the character later known as Lucas North was raised in rural Cumbria , where his father was a Methodist minister . During his time at Leeds University he lived with Maya Lahan ( Laila Rouass ) . While enrolled at Leeds he visited Dakar , Senegal , where he engaged in shipping cannabis to Hamburg in exchange for money . When he was caught the authorities took the shipment and his money , stranding him in Dakar . To gain enough money to get back to the UK , he worked in a casino . While working there John Bateman was approached by Vaughn Edwards ( Iain Glen ) , who persuaded him to deliver packages for him . One of the packages delivered by Bateman was a bomb that exploded at a British Embassy , killing 17 people . To escape the country Bateman killed a friend of his named Lucas North . North had just made it past the first battery of tests for admission to MI5 . Bateman assumed North 's identity and left Maya behind . Bateman / North would later suppress these memories , believing that Vaughn was solely responsible for the bombing and for his friend 's death . He would later join MI5 in place of the real Lucas North and become head of Section D. He was also once married to Elizabeta Starkova ( Paloma Baeza ) . During an operation in Russia , Lucas North was captured and imprisoned for eight years , during which time he was often subjected to torture . 
