Brother of IS murder victim rejects hatred of terrorists

THE brother of murdered aid worker David Haines said he is prepared to stare down the so-called Islamic State terrorists accused of murdering his sibling when he comes face-to-face with them for the first time.

Mike Haines – he and his brother are from Dundee – is in the US to read a victim impact statement as Londoner Alexanda Kotey is sentenced for his role in the terror cell’s murder of David.

The group, dubbed The Beatles due to their English accents, was said to be made up of ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, Aine Davis, El Shafee Elsheikh and Kotey, and was responsible for the brutal killings of a number of Western captives.

The charges against Kotey, and his co-accused Elsheikh, convicted after trial this month, only feature US victims but both he and Elsheikh will appear in court in Virginia today when the families of those murdered by the terror cell address the judge on their collective loss.

Mr Haines, an RAF veteran and former mental health nurse, said: “I am looking forward to staring them in the face, to drawing a line behind what has happened.

“And that is the real reason (for) going out to read my impact statement – to draw a line in the sand and say: ‘Yes, you have played a big part in my family’s life, you have had a hold on my family’s life. However, now, that stops.’”

Mr Haines said he would cherish the opportunity to sit down with Kotey to

“look him in the eyes and tell him he has been misguided”.

And in an extraordinary demonstration of his rejection of hatred, Mr Haines added: “What I would like to hear, although I don’t think it will ever happen, is for Kotey to say: ‘I’m sorry, what we were doing was wrong.’

“And if that was to happen, (for him to say) ‘What we were doing was not about Islam ... it was about the spread of terror’, then I would actually shake his hand.”

But Mr Haines, who runs education charity Global Acts Of Unity in honour of his brother – who was 44 – said it is “not important” for him to find out where David’s remains are.

““David walks with me still,” he said.

Mike Haines has travelled to the US