Profumo relative seized as he returns to UK after fighting for Kurds in Syria
THE great-nephew of John Profumo has been arrested trying to get back into the country after travelling to Syria to fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Jamie Janson was among dozens of Westerners who volunteered to fight with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against Isil in the terror group’s capital, Raqqa.
The 42-year-old, who is also a grandson of the Countess of Sutherland, subsequently found himself alongside the YPG in their struggle against Turkish troops in Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, earlier this year.
Mr Janson was arrested by police in Folkestone, Kent, on Tuesday, after arriving from France. He was held under section 5 of the Terrorism Act by officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command before being released on bail pending further inquiries. Mr Janson told The Daily Telegraph that he and the other foreign volunteers with the YPG were smuggled out of Afrin into government-held areas in late March after the city fell to Turkish and Syrian rebel forces.
From there he crossed to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where he flew to Brussels. He took a ferry to Dover, hoping his name would not be flagged by border officials.
“I was taken off the bus at Folkestone and arrested. It was pretty scary,” he said. “I was released under investigation after a night in the cell. Police treated me well and it has been amazing to see my family again after so long.”
Mr Janson’s family said they were delighted he was alive and well, albeit facing criminal charges in his own country.
Christopher Janson, 33, his brother, said: “I received a text saying he had been bailed after being arrested on his way back into the country and he is now staying with friends. He’s pleased to be back. He said he was fighting for a good cause, which I agree with.” After helping the Kurds expel Isil from much of northern and eastern Syria, Mr Janson and other Britons faced confronting soldiers from Turkey, a Nato ally, in the YPG’S fight for independence.
To date no British citizen has been convicted for fighting against Isil. Authorities say the law is unclear on what would happen if one engaged in battle with a United Nations member state.
Mr Janson had worked in refugee camps in Calais and Greece before joining an aid agency near Mosul, northern Iraq, where he decided to take up arms. He told his family that he was fighting in northern Syria and sent them a picture of himself wearing fatigues and holding a Kalashnikov.
Speaking in January from the countryside north of Raqqa, Mr Janson said: “I feel guilty about how much I have put my family through.”
Mr Janson’s grandparents include Mary Ainslie Profumo, sister of John Profumo, the Conservative minister whose liaison with Christine Keeler, the call girl, became one of the political scandals of the age.