Jihadi Jack: I miss my mother
‘Jihadi Jack’ tells how he thought Paris attack was a good thing, but now wants to return home to the UK
A MUSLIM convert nicknamed “Jihadi Jack”, who was captured in Syria, has said he misses his mother and wants to come home to Britain.
Jack Letts, 23, who fled his middleclass home in Oxford in 2014, and was later accused of joining Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), said he now considered the UK his home and believed he should be allowed to return.
Speaking from a Kurdish prison camp in northern Syria, where he has been held for the past two years, Mr Letts denounced Isil, but admitted he thought at the time that the terrorist attacks on the Bataclan in Paris in 2015 were a “good thing”. He also said he missed many of the home comforts of British life, including pasties and Doctor Who. He told ITV News: “I feel British. I am British.” Asked if he wanted to return to the UK he replied: “Yes, if the UK accepted me I’d go back to the UK. It’s my home. But … I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
His interview comes just days after fellow Briton Shamima Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship by Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, after travelling to Syria. The 19-year-old mother, who is believed to have joint Bangladeshi nationality, has asked to return home to bring up her baby son in the safety and security of Britain. But, rejecting her appeals, Mr Javid said he would do whatever it took to keep the people of Britain safe.
Mr Letts also has dual citizenship through his Canadian father and Mr Javid may now seek to take steps to remove his British passport.
Mr Letts said: “I did at one point in my life have a Canadian passport. I don’t know if it’s still valid.”
Mr Letts always denied joining Isil, but in a statement in 2016 denounced his parents saying he “hated them” because they were kuffar [non-believers]. “They reject the religion of truth, so I reject them. I hate the kuffar, and am free from them. Die in your rage.”
However, he now claims to miss his mother and longs to be able to speak to her on the telephone. He said: “I miss my mum. I know that sounds a bit toddlerish. Five years I haven’t seen my mum. Two years I haven’t spoken to my mum. I’d like a phone call to my mum.”
Mr Letts’s parents, John and Sally, have been charged with funding terrorism and are awaiting trial after allegedly sending their son money while he was in Syria. They deny the claims.
THE young Briton nicknamed Jihadi Jack has admitted he thought the terrorist rampage in Paris that left 130 people dead was “a good thing”.
Jack Letts, 23, a Muslim convert from Oxford who has been held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for nearly two years, insists he wants to start a new chapter of his life.
But after being tracked down at a Kurdish prison he revealed the extent to which he had been brainwashed by Isil, describing his delight when he first heard of the 2015 Paris attacks.
“Genuinely, at the time we had this idea that when you’re living in Raqqa you’re getting bombed every five minutes by coalition jets,” he told ITV News.
“I’ve seen children burnt alive, that’s probably going to upset some people, but the truth is the truth. I’ve seen coalition jets kill children. At the time you have this sort of idea of, ‘why shouldn’t it happen to them?’ But then you realise they had nothing to do with it.”
He added: “To be honest, at the time I thought it was a good thing.” A total 130 people died and more than 350 were injured in a series of attacks in the French capital on Nov 13, 2015, including 90 killed by gunmen at the Bataclan concert hall. Mr Letts, the son of an organic farmer, had left his family to travel to Syria the previous year, aged 18.
He was captured by Kurdish forces in May 2017 as he fled from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) stronghold of Raqqa and has been held by the SDF ever since.
His parents, John Letts, who is Canadian, and Sally Lane, face an Old Bailey trial later this year over claims they funded terrorism by sending their son money. They deny the charge and insist he went to Syria to help refugees.
Jack Letts has not spoken to his parents for two years and said he was desperately missing his mother. Censored letters delivered by the Red Cross were his only contact with the UK.
With hindsight, Mr Letts described his decision to travel to Syria as “ridiculous” and “stupid”.
He said he had witnessed numerous executions and beheadings which he described as “horrific,” adding: “Anyone who sees this is obviously going to have a repulsion.”
Mr Letts appealed for a chance to face the consequences of his actions in court. “Consider us criminals, that’s not a problem, but at at least we want a fair trial, we want some sort of way of getting out of this hole that we put ourselves in,” he said. Just days after Shamima Begum, 19, the jihadi bride from Bethnal Green in east London, pleaded to be allowed home from Syria, he acknowledged his actions meant he was unlikely to be done any favours by the British authorities.
“I’d like just a phone call to my mum,” he said. “It’s been two years ... if I can make any requests. That’s all really. I miss my mum.”
He added: “What else do I miss? I miss pasties. It’s not really English – sort of Scottish isn’t it? I miss pasties. And Doctor Who. Sounds a bit stupid … that’s all.”
His comments are a far cry from those issued some two years ago before he was captured, when he denounced his parents, stating he hated them both.
Soon after arriving in Syria, Mr Letts married an Iraqi woman and had a son – whom he has never met.
Echoing Ms Begum’s sentiments, he said he wanted to return to the UK.
Asked if he felt British or Canadian, he said: “I feel British. I’m British. My dad’s Canadian. If the UK accepted me then I’d go back to the UK, it’s my home. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”