Show of support for the parents accused of sending cash to their son, Jihadi Jack
SUPPORTERS protested outside the Old Bailey yesterday as the parents of a suspected extremist known as Jihadi Jack were set to stand trial for sending him money.
John Letts, 55, and Sally Lane, 54, were charged with wiring £1,700 to Jack Letts, 21, in Syria after he allegedly joined Islamic State.
They were greeted by friends at the central London court before their trial was delayed.
Up to a dozen well-wishers held signs with messages including: ‘Imagine if you couldn’t help your child,’ and, ‘We’re with you John and Sally.’
Their son, Jack Letts, is suspected of being one of the first white Britons to join the Islamist terror group. He travelled to the warzone in 2014 and his parents are understood to have exchanged messages with him since.
Letts, a master-thatcher and organic farmer, and Lane, a books editor and former charity worker, insist their son went to the Middle East for humanitarian reasons and claim there is no evidence that he has joined IS.
Jack, who now goes by the name Ibrahim or Abu Muhammed, is believed to have been living in Fallujah in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. It has been claimed he has married an Iraqi woman with whom he has a son, Mohammed.
Letts and Lane, of Oxford, are accused of sending payments to their son between September 2015 and January last year.
They claim a policeman told them they could send money if it was to help Jack escape.
They both pleaded not guilty to three counts of making money available knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for a terrorist purpose. Lane denies a further two counts of attempting to transfer money knowing it might be used for terrorism. The trial was adjourned for legal arguments.