Brit fighting IS in Syria killed himself to avoid capture

COURAGE Ryan Lock A BRIT fighting Islamic State with a Kurdish militia in Syria shot himself in the head rather than fall into their hands, an inquest heard.

Ryan Lock, 20, took his own life as his position was overrun last December. The former chef had no previous military experience and joined the Kurdish YPG after telling relatives he was going backpacking to Turkey. He flew from Luton to Istanbul last August, then to Iraq.

Portsmouth and South East Hampshire coroner David Horsley said Mr Lock suffered a leg wound that left him at risk of capture by a “cruel and ruthless” enemy. He said: “He used his own weapon to avoid capture. That can only be viewed as a brave action.”

The coroner added that Mr Lock, from Chichester, West Sussex, “died doing something he quite clearly believed passionately in”.

Mr Lock kept in touch with his family from Syria but after losing contact, father Jon Plater found images of him online with an IS fighter standing over his body. He said: “You could tell it was him.”

His body was repatriated at Heathrow in February. YPG general Mihyedin Xirki said Mr Lock, whose nom de guerre was Berxwedan Givara, was a “martyr” who died “putting up a brave fight”.