Police quiz ex-soldier as he f lies back from battle against Isis
A FORMER soldier who flew to Syria to fight Islamic State fanatics has returned to Scotland – but plans to go back as the conflict is ‘ unfinished business’.
Jamie Read, 24, went to help Kurdish forces battling the extremists after the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.
On Tuesday he arrived at Heathrow Airport with his friend James Hughes, 26, a fellow volunteer fighter. The pair said yesterday that they were interviewed separately by police for six hours.
After questioning they were allowed to leave. They did not have to surrender their passports and police sources say they are being treated as witnesses. It is l i kely that the i ntelligence services will question the men about their experiences to help tackle the Isis threat.
Mr Read is staying with his girlfriend Leeann Fleming, 24, in Newmains, Lanarkshire but yesterday he declined to comment. A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We can confirm we are in liaison with the Metropolitan Police and other police forces as part of the UK’s counter terrorism network, regarding an on-going investigation into reports of UK nationals engaging in combat in the conflict zone.
‘One man, aged 24, from Scotland, has returned to the UK from the area and is
‘The biggest threat faced by the world’
currently assisting us with our inquiries.’
In an earlier interview, Mr Read said of his experience at Heathrow: ‘I was raging. They kept asking why we went, who we were with and if were we being paid. We weren’t, of course.’
He said he hopes to head back to Syria, as the conflict with Isis is ‘unfinished business’.
Miss Fleming previously said: ‘ The plan is that he will be home for Christmas – and to see him home safely would be the best Christmas present ever.
‘I am very worried about him. I spoke to him only a couple of days ago over Skype. He’s fine and safe. I never know his location when we speak. I miss him lots and I can’t wait to be reunited with him.’
Miss Fleming, who met Mr Read in Turkey when she was 16, added: ‘I think he’s really brave for what he is doing. But that is his personality. He spoke about it and now he has done what he said he would do.’
Last weekend Mr Read, who has lost 11 comrades in fierce fighting with Isis, said the terror group was the biggest threat the world faces.
Speaking from the frontline after seeing villages ransacked and locals killed by Isis forces, he said: ‘ My family were nervous and obviously worried about my wellbeing – we have gone into an unknown world.
‘But I’m a firm believer that if you want to do something you have to do it, not talk about it.’
When he left Scotland, Mr Read, originally from Cumbria, joined up with Mr Hughes, of Worcestershire, after meeting on an anti-Isis Facebook page.
They flew from Manchester to Istanbul before making their way to war-torn Kobane.
They are part of a 20- strong foreign legion helping the Kurds’ Peoples Defence Units, the YPG.
Last night, Anand Doobay, an international criminal lawyer with Peters & Peters Solicitors in London, said: ‘There are many complex factors in a case of this kind. The police have to establish whether a criminal offence has taken place, but often the only evidence they will have is from the individual concerned.
‘Fighting in a foreign war is not illegal, per se.
‘The police then have to make a decision about whether continuing an investigation of this kind is a good use of r esources, even if there is a sufficiency of evidence.
‘And of course, the prosecution authorities will then have to decide whether a prosecution is in the public interest.’