British boy fighting in Syria
Farming scientist father got a grant from Prince Charles
RAISED in Oxford as the son of an organic farmer who received a grant from Prince Charles, Jack Letts is a very unlikely jihadi.
But the middle-class Muslim convert has been named as the first white British male to join Islamic State after going to Syria at the age of 18 and changing his name to Ibrahim.
Previously a keen footballer and hardworking pupil, the 20-year-old – now nicknamed Jihadi Jack by his old school friends – had told his parents he was going to Kuwait to study.
In 2014 he reportedly admitted to his family that he was in Syria, where he is believed to have married a woman from the Iraqi city of Fallujah and had a son called Muhammed.
It is all a far cry from his start to life. Letts’s Canadian father, John, describes himself as a ‘scientist and archaeologist’ and is interested in botany.
He won a grant from Prince Charles’s Countryside Fund for his company Herit-
‘I fear he has been
brainwashed’
age Harvest, which helps farmers grow cereals for thatch and grain, and once appeared on the BBC’s Countryfile chatting with presenter Matt Baker.
His mother Sally is a former books editor, it was reported yesterday, and he lived with them and his brother Tyler in a terraced house in Oxford.
A man believed to be Letts’s father yesterday said that ‘95 per cent of what has been published is incorrect’ – although he confirmed his son was a Muslim who now lived overseas.
Neighbours spoke of their ‘utter sadness’ that Letts had travelled to Syria.
One, a female Muslim who asked to remain anonymous, said Letts told her he wanted to go to Saudi Arabia when he left school to further his education.
‘This made me very worried,’ she said. ‘I spoke with his father who became very worried when he converted to Islam. I sat with him and told him not to worry. I told him that Islam means peace. I told him to pray that his son follows the good path, not the bad one.
‘To hear that he has gone away to Syria brings me utter sadness. ..I feel bad for him.’
She added: ‘His father was very depressed when we last spoke. ..I fear Jack has been brainwashed and has followed the wrong path.’
It is understood that Letts, who now also uses the name Abu Muhammed, was an atheist before befriending a group of Muslim boys at school.
It is believed he lied to his parents prior to leaving for Syria, telling them he was moving to Kuwait to study Arabic. He has posted photographs of himself on social media posing with weapons, thought to have been taken near the Tabqa Dam in Syria.
He is a member of the Oxford Muslim Network and ‘likes’ Oxford University Islamic Society on social media. This group is said to host gender-segregated events.
Former friends from Cherwell School, the state academy Letts attended, said he was a bright boy who enjoyed sport and supported Liverpool FC.
‘He was very funny and fun to be around,’ a former pupil told The Sunday Times, adding that Letts’s nickname was now ‘Jihadi Jack’ in their circle. ‘At school he was very much the classroom clown. ..that’s why this whole thing of him going to live in Syria and join Isis doesn’t make any sense.’
A family friend told the newspaper that before leaving Britain, Letts had spoken of wanting to live under sharia law. Another said: ‘He was always an atheist, pretty liberal, typical middle class kid.
‘Then he started befriending a group of Muslim boys at the school and that exposed him to Islam. I noticed he started becoming very preachy and was using Arabic, which was strange because I only ever saw him as a typical Oxford boy. Then he started growing a beard, becoming more reserved... he sort of disappeared into a world where he only associated with like-minded people.
‘He did talk passionately about Isis, but I always assumed he meant he opposed them, not that he would join them.’
A family member who answered the phone at the house – believed to be Letts’s father – yesterday criticised reports on his son. ‘There has been an avalanche of misinformation,’ he said. ‘We don’t want to comment on all of this, but what I will say is that 95 per cent of what has been published is incorrect.
‘The only truth is that Jack is a Muslim and he is overseas. But everything else is made up and it is just getting worse.’
A source close to the family said: ‘His mother and father were extremely worried for his safety after he told them that he was in Syria. The past two years have been a real nightmare for them. They just wish he can be back home with them.’