Jihadi Jack: Mother of Muslim convert says she was 'horrified' when he phoned from Syria

‘I screamed at him, ‘How could you be so stupid? You will get killed’,’ Sally Lane tells court

The mother of a young Muslim convert known as "Jihadi Jack" wept in court as she described her horror when her son called to say: “Mum, I’m in Syria.”

Sally Lane told London's Old Bailey that, along with her husband John Letts, she had been forced to walk a "tightrope" as they tried to keep in contact with their son after discovering he was in the war-torn country.

The pair are accused of sending or trying to send sums totalling £1,723 to Jack Letts, even though they had reason to believe he had joined Isis.

The British citizen was only 18 when he left the family home in Oxford, travelled abroad, got married in Iraq and moved to Raqqa in Syria, jurors have heard.

His parents allegedly ignored repeated warnings that they faced legal trouble if they tried to help their son while he was in Isis territory, the court heard.

Ms Lane told jurors she believed her son had initially gone to Jordan and Kuwait for study and tourism.

But on 2 September 2014, phone records showed a flurry of calls.

“That was the day I found out," Ms Lane said. "Jack phoned me. I was alone in the house. It was just a very quick phone call. He said: 'Mum, I’m in Syria'. I was horrified.

"I screamed at him: 'How could you be so stupid? You will get killed. You will get beheaded'."

John Letts and Sally Lane, the parents of Jack Letts, arrive at the Old Bailey in May (Yui Mok/PA)

Letts, who is said to suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, did not phone again for almost three weeks.

“He apologised for not having phoned since that call," Ms Lane said. "He said he had been ill. He had been travelling. He did not say exactly where he was. He tried to be reassuring, saying everything is fine. It’s a civilian area, it’s not a war zone. Someone had looked after him when he was ill and not to worry.”

She added that she had attempted to use a £5,000 inheritance from her son’s grandfather “as a bribe” to encourage him and his new wife Asmaa to get “somewhere safe”.

But on 21 May, he posted a photograph of himself in Raqqa, Syria. On 30 July, his mother said she felt “sick” when her son appeared to threaten to behead an old school friend, Linus Doubtfire, on social media.

Mr Doubtfire had posted a picture on Facebook as he completed his Commando Artillery Course in the British Army. Letts commented: “I would love to perform a martyrdom operation in this scene.”

The court heard how Ms Lane came to send £223 of the inheritance to Lebanon on 2 September 2015. Her son reassured her it was “nothing to do with jihad” when he sent her a selfie sporting a beard and long hair.

Lane replied that she was “worried” about the state of his teeth, adding: “I’m not averse to sending the money, as you know. I would go to prison for you if I thought it gave you a better chance of actually reaching your 25th birthday.”

On her feelings at the time, she told jurors: “I was a little bit nervous but I wanted to maintain that contact with Jack and I needed him to trust us and we needed to trust him and it seemed to be a good link.”

Asked if she had any idea the money might end up in the hands of terrorists, she said: “No. I actually thought it might enable Jack to get to Lebanon.”

Jack Letts, seen here in Isis-controlled Tabqa in 2016, denies he ever joined or fought on behalf of the militant organisation

On a stream of acrimonious messages, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC observed: “You wanted to keep in touch with your son but at the same time not give in to some of the things he was saying. That was the tightrope you had to walk.”

Ms Lane agreed, saying there was a constant threat from Isis enforcers on the lookout for “British spies”.

She wiped away tears as she told jurors: “Generally with these messages, even if we were having an argument it would not bother me so much because I thought it was safer for him if someone was reading them.”

Organic tenant farmer John Letts, 58, and former fundraising officer Lane, 56, deny three charges of funding terrorism.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association