Wednesday, June 01, 2016

parents of white Islamic convert dubbed 'Jihadi Jack' are charged with TERRORISM offences over 'attempt to send him money after he fled to Syria'

  • Organic farmer and his wife arrested after son fled to the Middle East
  • They have now been charged with funding terrorism offences
  • The couple have denied their son, from Oxford, is linked to ISIS
The middle-class parents of a suspected ISIS convert dubbed 'Jihadi Jack' have been charged with terrorism offences.
Organic farmer John Letts and wife Sally Lane were arrested earlier this year for allegedly trying to send their son Jack money, and have now been charged with multiple terror offences.

Jack Letts, 20, has been dubbed 'Jihadi Jack' after leaving his Oxford home to travel to Syria, where the bearded youngster is suspected of having joined the terror group.

John Letts and wife Sally Lane have been charged with terrorism offences for sending money to their son Jack
Jack is in Syria and is suspected of having joined ISIS
John Letts and wife Sally Lane have been charged with terrorism offences for sending money to their son Jack, who is in Syria and is suspected of having joined ISIS

He has posted pictures of himself in combat clothing posing near what is believed to be the Taqba Dam in war-torn Syria.

John, a leading organic farmer, has appeared on Countryfile and the 55-year-old has also won a Prince Charles grant to help preserve crop biodiversity.

Jack's mother Sally, 53, is a books editor while Canadian-born John is one of the country's leading archaeobotanists, specialising in ancient grains.

The pair have strongly denied their son's ties to the barbaric terrorist organisation.

Mr Letts previously told Channel 4 News: 'If there is any evidence that he's done anything violent, if anyone can prove any of these allegations... If you can show me any of that I'll be the first to believe it and I'll be the first to report it.

'Because I don't want a son who would do that type of thing, because that is not how he was raised, and I don't think that's him. That is not the kid that I recognise.' 

The couple have strenuously denied that their son is involved with terrorist group ISIS
The couple have strenuously denied that their son is involved with terrorist group ISIS

It is understood the couple, from Grandpoint, Oxfordshire, were distraught when Jack converted to Islam and ran off to Syria in 2014, aged just 18.

Friends described Letts, who has posted photos online believed to have been taken in Syria and Iraq, as a 'typical middle class kid'. 

He attended Cherwell School, one of Oxford's leading comprehensives, where 22.5 per cent of the 1,876 pupils speak English as a second language. 

Mr Letts, pictured outside the family home in Oxford earlier this tear
Mr Letts, pictured outside the family home in Oxford earlier this tear
It is believed he told his parents he was going to study Arabic in Kuwait before secretly travelling to Syria.

Yesterday, Mr Letts was charged with three counts of entering into or becoming concerned in an arrangement to make available money, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for a terrorist purpose contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

His wife Sally was charged with three counts of entering into or becoming concerned in an arrangement to make available money, having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for a terrorist purpose contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

She was also charged with two counts of attempting to provide money, having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for a terrorist purpose Contrary to the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and the Terrorism Act 2000.

The couple have been released on bail to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 9. 

Mr Letts was raised on a small family farm in Ontario, Canada and came to the UK to do a master's degree in archaeobotany - the study of ancient plant remains - at University College London.

Mrs Letts is a former books editor, with a Church of England minister and a baronet among her distant relatives. 


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