TERROR BANKROLL
Jihadi Jack’s parents say ‘we only did what any parent would do’ after sending cash to terrorist son as he admits ‘I was enemy of the UK’
JIHADI Jack's parents say they did "what any parent would do" after being spared jail for funding terrorism - as their ISIS son admitted he was an "enemy of Britain".
John Letts, 58, and his wife Sally Lane, 56, wired £223 to their Muslim convert son even though they had every reason to believe he had joined the barbarous terror group in Syria.
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Interview with Jihadi Jack who converted to Islam aged 16, first travelled to Syria in 2014
The couple had been told by Jack Letts he wanted to behead British soldiers in an ISIS terror attack but denied knowing he had links to the extremists.
They were today found guilty at the Old Bailey of funding terrorism in September 2015 but not guilty of the same charge in December 2015 when they attempted to send another £1,500.
Jurors were discharged after they were unable to decide on a third charge relating to an attempt to send £500 in January 2016.
The couple were spared a maximum 14-year jail sentence and were instead handed 15 months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
'WE TRIED DOING THE RIGHT THING'
Speaking after the case, the couple said in an emotional statement: "We tried to do the right thing. We fully cooperated with the police and asked them repeatedly for help.
"They promised they would help us, but instead of helping us, they used the information we provided to prosecute us."
Their son, who is currently in a Kurdish jail, said in October he had made a "mistake" in joining the murderous terror group.
He told the : "I know I was definitely an enemy of Britain.
"I did what I did. I made a big mistake, and that's what happened."
'NOT ASKING FOR A SECOND CHANCE'
Jack, who joined ISIS in Syria in 2014, said he believed he was "going to something better" - despite having a "very good relationship" with his parents.
He also said he wasn't appealing to the British public to give him a "second chance" as he claimed he never killed anyone while fighting in ISIS.
But he said the group used to "encourage you in a sort of indirect way" to put on a suicide vest, adding: "I used to want to at one point, believe it or not.
"Not a vest. I wanted to do it in a car. I said if there's a chance, I will do it."
IGNORED CONCERNS
His comments were released as his parents were revealed to have ignored repeated warnings he had joined ISIS and sent the cash despite being told by cops three times not to.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said the couple, from Oxford, "turned a blind eye to the obvious" - that their son had joined the murderous terrorist group by the time they sent £223 in September 2015.
But the couple insisted their son was trapped in ISIS-stronghold Raqqa and were acting under "duress" fearing he was in mortal danger.
Despite airing concerns to a family friend that Letts wanted to fight in Syria, Lane paid for her son to travel to Amman, Jordan on May 26, 2014.
He was due to return on June 5, but he did not, and began to study Arabic in Kuwait - having received £350 from his mother using his real name.
Lane had told jurors she was "horrified" when he rang her to say he was in Syria in September 2014.
She said: "I screamed at him, 'How could you be so stupid? You will get killed. You will be beheaded'."
John Letts begged his son to come home, telling him: "A father should never live to see his son buried."
He went on to accuse him of being a "pawn ... helping spread hatred, pain, anger, suffering and violence".
'BEHEADING' POSTS
The couple knew how extreme their son's views had become after seeing a comment he had written below photo of a group of soldiers, including a school friend Linus, as they celebrated completing a commando artillery course for the British Army in July 2015.
He said: "I would love to perform a martyrdom operation in this scene".
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said the defendants appeared shocked by his Facebook post with mum Lane urging him not to be "so stupid".
The mum said: "How did we bring you up to be so easily manipulated?"
Her son then responded: "I admit it was wrong if I seemed like I was joking. I genuinely believe attacking the British Army is a very praiseworthy action when the intention is correct.
"I would happily kill each and every one of Linus Unit personally.
'I'M A TERRIBLE PARENT'
"This message for you, Mum and (younger brother) Tyler, I honestly want to cut Linus head off.
"I hope he finds himself lost in Beji or Fallujah one day and sees me whilst I'm armed and I put six bullets in his head."
His mother, a former fundraising and marketing officer, replied: "I'm really hoping that your disgusting comments about cutting people's heads off are not coming from you, i.e. someone else is using your account."
Lane also contacted her son while he was fighting for ISIS and told him she had been "a terrible parent".
She messaged him on October 19, 2015, and said she had "clearly indulged him" and made him think he was "centre of the universe".
Lane continued: "I regret this bitterly. I was a terrible parent that gave you too much power as a child - I should have made you adapt to the world, instead of adapting myself to your world."
LIFE WITH ISIS
Jihadi Jack fled the UK in 2014 when he was 18 to join ISIS in war-ravaged Syria.
While in Syria, Jack reportedly changed his name to Abu Mohammed and married an Iraqi woman with whom he has a son, Muhammed.
In February, he begged to come back to the UK after being left to rot for two years in a Kurdish prison.
The Muslim convert, originally from Oxford, said he misses pasties and watching Dr Who.
He created a life for himself in the country - learning Arabic in Jordan before moving to Kuwait, then to Iraq and Syria living on "the Oxford Street of Raqqa".
Letts once admitted that during his time in Raqqa, he supported the devastating 2015 Paris attacks after he saw children being killed by coalition air strikes.
But he claimed earlier this year that he has changed his mind and the deaths of innocent people are wrong.
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Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes said the conviction sends a clear message, adding: "It's not for us to choose which laws to follow and which not to and when it's OK to break the law."
She said investigators had a "huge empathy" for the Letts family, adding: "Fundamentally John Letts and Sally Lane are not bad people.
"It's hard to imagine the kind of agony they must be going through because of the choices their son made."
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Jihadi Jack tells of watching public beheadings inside ISIS stronghold