Civilised Western values vs terrorism

EVERY natural instinct tells us that the murderous Islamic State execution gang known as the Beatles should never again set foot on our shores.

Indeed, many might be forgiven for thinking that the best thing would be for some fatal ‘accident’ to befall the Britons, now that they have been taken captive by a Kurdish militia unit.

But any such thoughts must be strongly resisted. For it must never be forgotten that in the fight against barbaric Islamist terrorism, Western values are nobler than those of the enemy.

Indeed, civilisation demands that ‘the Beatles’ – nurtured, to our deep shame, in Britain – should face the due process of law, which they denied their victims.

This is perfectly in line with the cri de coeur from Bethany Haines, whose humanitarian worker father David fell victim to the unspeakable savagery of these men. She would like the gang to face death.

This paper believes that ideally, they should be tried in the United States, where justice for the murder of American citizens is robust to say the least.

But let one thing be clear. On no account should they be sent to that recruiting sergeant for terrorism, the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Criminal scum should never be handed an excuse to present themselves as martyrs.