British Isis wife 'wants to flee Syria but her young son is refusing'

'Jo-Jo was just an ordinary kid when she took him away'

A British woman who took her young son to join Isis in Syria is unable to return to the UK because he is refusing to leave, it has been claimed.

Sally Jones, who has been living in Isis-controlled Raqqa for three years, is said to be "desperate" to return home.

But her 12-year-old son Jo-Jo Dixon is reportedly refusing to go after being "brainwashed" by the extremist group.

Speaking to The Sun, a family friend said: "Jo-Jo was just an ordinary kid when she took him away from his home in Kent.

"She’s ruined all of that by fleeing with him.”

The child’s father, who has not seen him since 2013, said he was "brilliant, just a normal boy – always chasing bugs, going down the park.

"It’s disgusting he’s been brainwashed."

Jo-Jo’s grandparents, as well as his father, said they recognised him in a widely distributed propaganda video, in which children appear to shoot kneeling prisoners in the head.

But Jones, a former lead singer in a punk rock band, took to Twitter to deny that it was her son.

Using the pseudonym Umm Hussain al-Britani, she wrote: "It's not my son. If it was my son in the video I would be very proud, and may Allah swt [glory to him, the exalted] reward all of them cubs of the khilafah [caliphate] aameen.

"By the way my son collects grenades now...not bugs Alhamdulillah for getting my beautiful boy to the Islamic State [all sic]."

But another Isis bride, who only gave her name as Aisha, hinted at a possible change of heart last month when she claimed the 48-year-old said she wanted to go home.

"She was crying and wants to get back to Britain but Isis is preventing her because she is now a military wife. She told me she wish to go to her country," she told Sky News.

Nicknamed the White Widow, Jones became a key recruiter for the extremist group after travelling to the wartorn region to marry jihadist Junaid Hussain. Hussain, who ran digital operations for the jihadi group, was killed in a drone strike last year.

Raqqa has been the recipient of heavy airstrikes by a US-led coalition to recapture the Isis stronghold, and reports confirm that fighters have taken the last road into Raqqa. UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had succeeded in "completely encircling" the group’s de facto capital.

"The battle for Raqqa has only just begun," a spokesperson for US Central Command told The Independent earlier this week. "There is still much fighting to be done in the city."

But concerns are growing for the 100,000 civilians trapped in the city, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warning: "Civilians must not be sacrificed for the sake of rapid military victories."