Aid worker who was murdered by Isis begged to hug his children
A SCOTS aid worker murdered by Isis was forced to write a heart-breaking letter in which be begged to be able to hug his children.
David Haines, 44, from Perth was killed in Syria in 2014 after being abducted and held captive for 18 months.
It has now emerged that months before his death, Mr Haines was forced to write to his parents urging them to raise nearly 100million euros – about £90million – to secure his release.
The former RAF engineer also wrote that his final wish was to see his children and ‘hug them again’.
In the letter, which has been obtained by the Sunday Times, Mr Haines wrote: ‘I only wish to have the chance to see my children and hug them again... I don’t think I would ever leave them again!’
The father-of-two was among 17 hostages, including Americans, French and Spanish, who were held captive by the group of four Isis thugs dubbed ‘The Beatles’ because of their English accents.
In a sickening video he was seen kneeling in an orange jumpsuit before being beheaded by so-called Jihadi John, the cell’s leader.
Mr Haines was forced to write the letter a year after he was kidnapped. He was working as a security consultant for French charity Acted when he and Italian aid worker Federico Motka were seized in Syria in March 2013.
Mr Haines wrote: ‘They have released other hostages and also killed one. I am so sorry to put you through this ordeal and maybe you can forgive me one day.
‘I know you will try your hardest. They are releasing the French. So this group do what they say they will do. As there are American and British it may be a miracle but this amount could be raised. If not I fear the worst!’
Four French hostages were released in April 2014. In November 2014, Mr Haines’s parents said a handwritten letter from their son had arrived at their home.
Their other son, Michael, advised them to hand it over to the authorities, meaning they never read it.
The couple later learned the letter was full of Isis propaganda. It is believed Mr Haines was killed around September 13, 2014.
The letter also told how he had suffered repeated illnesses, including a stomach ulcer. The Sunday Times revealed he wrote: ‘My health is still deteriorating but I have been receiving good treatment as well as medication that seem to contain the problem. We are being treated well at the moment but this can change at any second.’
The letter is thought to be part of the evidence which British authorities hold against Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, two members of the ‘Beatles’ cell who are awaiting extradition to either the UK or America.
They were caught by the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018. This summer the Crown Prosecution Service said that it had enough evidence to charge Kotey with five murders.
He can also be charged with eight counts of hostage-taking, while Elsheikh could be charged for his membership of a terrorist group.
In April, Mr Haines’s daughter Bethany told how she and her family were ‘sick of waiting’ for his body to be found.
She told the Daily Record: ‘There have been so many signs they think it might be [his body] and it’s not.
‘When I asked if they were actively going out and looking, they said they weren’t and rely on information and not speculation. We and the other families are finding it hard to get closure. If no one else is going to do it, I will. I’m sick of waiting around.’
‘This amount could be raised’