bin waiting long time for justice.

SO bin Laden wasn't in a cave in Afghanistan after all.

The world's most wanted was living a life of domesticity in a walled compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan, his wives and children by his side.

He was based in a good neighbourhood, in a district favoured by retired military men.

And the only thing that set his home apart from the rest of the houses on the block was that if you hit a cricket ball into his garden, the ball didn't come back.

Yet while those who lived in his street had retired from their jobs, there is nothing to suggest that bin Laden had retired from his business: the business of global terrorism.

He was one of the world's most infamous men, yet there was a mythical quality about this 21st century man of mystery.

Bin Laden was, until last Monday, a living, breathing paradox.

His long robes and traditional beard made him seem timeless -- ageless, even. Yet we know he was a 54-year-old family man with at least five wives and more than 20 children.

For many he was the personification of evil yet, possibly because of this, he was also the object of jokes.

And despite being a leader of a global terror group who communicated with followers via the internet when he chose to, he lived his life off the grid.

In death, as in life, mystery surrounds Osama bin Laden.

There are the conspiracy theorists who say he has been dead for many years and that al-Qaida itself does not exist.

Prominent figures, from Ian Paisley to the Dalai Lama have given their opinions on the assassination, debating the morality of the killing.

But by far the most straightforward response to the news came from ex-newspaper editor turned American sweetheart Piers Morgan who tweeted: "Things you'd love to tell the grand-children: I'm the Seal who killed bin Laden."

Last week young Americans took to the streets to celebrate bin Laden's death at that Seal's hand.

For them, it was a real life 'wicked witch is dead' moment.

But while the wicked bin Laden is dead, there are others willing to fill his shoes.

Now America -- and the rest of the western world -- must brace itself for their retribution.

CAPTION: MAN OF MYSTERY