'Jihadi Jack' parents guilty of funding terrorism:

The parents of a Muslim convert dubbed "Jihadi Jack" have been found guilty of funding terrorism.

John Letts, 58, and Sally Lane, 57, from Oxford, sent their son £223 while he was in Syria despite concerns he had joined the Muslim State cluster.

An old Bailey jury found the couple not guilty of sending him an extra £1,000 and could not reach a verdict on a 3rd charge of funding terrorism.

The pair each received 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

In a statement read by their solicitor, they said: "We have been convicted for doing what any parent would do if they thought that their child's life was in danger."

Muslim convert Jack Letts left his home in Oxford at 18 for Jordan and Kuwait for study and tourism.

In March 2015, police warned the couple they risked prosecution if they sent their son money.

Then in September, Lane transferred money to an account in Lebanon after her son insisted it had "nothing to do with jihad".

She told him: "I would go to prison for you if I thought it gave you a better chance of actually reaching your 25th birthday."

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said: "It was one thing for parents to be optimistic about their children, and I do acknowledge he is your son who you love very much.

"But in this context you did lose sight of realities."

He told the couple: "The warning signs were there for you to see."

He said that they were "intelligent adults" who set aside their suspicions to "please your son".

In the statement read outside the Old Bailey, the couple said: "The fact the jury acquitted us of some of the allegations makes it clear that the jury accepted we believed that our son's life was in imminent danger."

They added that they had "tried to do the right thing" and co-operate with police in a bid to get Jack home.

"But instead of helping us they used the information we provided to prosecute us."

In the statement, Letts and Lane said that "having escaped from Isis [Jack] is now in limbo".

Jack has been detained for the past 18 months 1by the Kurdish-led YPG in northern Syria.

His parents said: "Jack is still a British citizen and we have pleaded with the government to help us to bring him to safety, even if that meant he might be prosecuted in the UK.

"We are committed to help Jack return home."

Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC had earlier said Jack's parents "turned a blind eye to the obvious".

"Saying they wanted to help Jack is not a defence," she said.

"They had every reason to expect the worst; they just in fact did not want to hear the truth."

She added Letts and Lane were repeatedly told by "numerous police officers" not to send any money.

Letts and Lane were found not guilty of sending a further £1,000 in December 2015 and the jury could not reach a verdict on the couple sending £500 in January 2016.

Jurors heard that in July 2015 Jack Letts spoke about wanting to decapitate a former school friend on social media.

Source: https://aderonkebamidele.com/jihadi-jack-parents-guilty-of-funding-terrorism/