Jeannette Bougrab (42) was introduced to the slain magazine editor Stéphane Charbonnier, who was 48, by the lawyer of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly three years ago.

The couple were discreet. Members of the public discovered their relationship when Bougrab posted photographs of herself, Charbonnier and her adopted daughter, May, on her Facebook page after “Charb” was murdered with 11 other people on Wednesday.

Bougrab has given a heart-rending interview to BFM television, in which she speaks of her love for the cartoonist/journalist, but also criticises French authorities for failing to protect Charlie Hebdo.

“I had admired him for a long time,” Bougrab said. “I loved his courage in denouncing radical Islam. It’s true that we were different: he was a communist. I’m a [conservative] UMP militant.”

Secularist couple

Bougrab has been described as a “hardline secularist”. A shared commitment to secularism brought her and Charbonnier together, despite opposing political opinions.

Bougrab's father was a Harki, an Algerian who fought on the side of the French during the Algerian war of independence. He became a steel worker in France. Jeannette studied law, taught at university and joined the UMP. Under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, she headed the equal opportunity commission, then served as a junior minister. She has since worked as a television presenter and resumed her career as a lawyer.

On Wednesday morning, Bougrab sent repeated text messages to Charbonnier, who did not respond. She telephoned him. Still no answer. She went to Charlie Hebdo's office and found it surrounded by police and ambulances.

“I always thought that he would die like Theo van Gogh,” she said, referring to the Dutch film-maker who was killed by an Islamic fundamentalist in 2004. “He knew his life was threatened. He never had children, partly because he knew he was going to die.”

Charbonnier used to quote the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who said “I would rather die standing than live on my knees”.

“I was with a hero whom I admired,” said Bougrab. “He was executed because he defended secularism . . . He died standing up, with his comrades. We can be very proud of him. All these cartoonists deserve the Pantheon [France’s monument to great men]. They died so we can remain free in this country.”

Asked whether the international outpouring of revulsion and solidarity over the massacre at Charlie Hebdo is a sort of victory, Bougrab struggles to hold back sobs.

“Absolutely not, because he’s dead . . . It’s a tragedy for our country and I refuse to rejoice in the idea that people are demonstrating in the streets. They have torn away the precious being who was my companion. I have lost my love. I’ve lost a part of myself.”

Bougrab is not interested in explanations of the killers’ behaviour. “When there are individuals like that, in a sort of spiral, I want the Republic to be capable of locking them up . . . I ask myself, this time, will we understand what has happened in France, that war has been declared?”

Protection reduced

Two policemen, one a Muslim, and a policewoman from Guadeloupe, were killed this week. Criticism of police failings has been muted, but Bougrab gave voice to it.

"I say to myself they might have been saved, and it wasn't done...They were threatened and [the police] stopped the permanent protection in front of Charlie Hebdo."

Charlie Hebdo had been under police protection since it published the Muhammad cartoons in 2006. After a previous office was burned down in 2011, Charbonnier and two staff members were provided with round-the-clock police bodyguards, one of whom died in the massacre.

But when the magazine moved to the 11th district last year, police removed the vehicle parked outside and switched to half-hourly patrols.

"The threat seemed to have diminished," police headquarters told Le Monde.

“If there had been two stationary guards, there would have been two more dead,” said a source in the anti-terrorist police.

Bougrab also criticised the authorities’ failure to crack down on jihadists’ use of the internet. “We’re at war . . . Why don’t they do anything against the internet and social media which have become conduits for hatred?”

Questions have also been raised about police surveillance of the Kouachi brothers, who perpetrated the massacre at Charlie Hebdo. Both brothers figured on a US government blacklist, and would have been prevented from travelling to the US.

List of most dangerous

Chérif Kouachi had served a prison term for organising a jihadist network. His name appears on a French police list of 500 dangerous people.

“These individuals were doubtless watched, but there’s no such thing as zero risk,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, up to 30 intelligence agents are required to keep a suspect under surveillance 24/7. The Kouachi brothers did not seem to merit such a commitment.