‘ISIS Beatles’ terrorist demands family be allowed to live in UK - ‘I am British!’

But despite having had his British citizenship revoked for his crimes, the jailed terrorist claims he is still “as British as anyone else”.

 Speaking from inside a swelteringly hot complex at a secret base in North Syria, Kotey yesterday told how his wife has tried to contact his mother for help. 

The 35-year-old jihadi said he did not know where his family was now as “I have not been allowed access to communicate with them”.

But he told how he sent his wife and children – who he does not wish to name – back to her family in Aleppo when he tried to flee the crumbling caliphate in 2017.

Kotey was seized by Western-backed SDF troops north of Raqqa and later imprisoned, but believes that one day he will be freed.

But despite the UK Government stripping his citizenship, he said: “As far as I am concerned, I am British and I will remain British whether or not I have got a red book – that’s where I was born, where I was raised.

“I don’t have any relatives outside the UK so to say that I am not British is a big, bold statement or that anyone is more British than me because I made some mistakes – that’s also a big statement.”

ISIS terrorist Alexanda Kotey has demanded his family be allowed in Britain (Image: CNN•GETTY)

Kotey fled to Syria in 2012 and, along with Mohammed Emwazi – known as Jihadi John – El Shafee Elsheikh, and Aine Davis, became part of the notorious ISIS terrorist gang dubbed “the Beatles” because of their British accents.

The group is thought to have killed at least seven hostages, plus 27 Syrian soldiers.

Kotey, who was raised in Ladbroke Grove, West London, claims he “hit the streets with a vengeance” when he left school, apparently blaming his background for his conversion to extremism.

During a chilling interview, Kotey claimed he had a new-found cynicism towards ISIS but said he was “grateful” for his time in the group because it led to his union with a jihadi bride.

The former petty crook also admitted physically tormenting western prisoners before his pal Jihadi John beheaded them.

Kotey, who trained as a “sniper” before he joined an elite Pretorian Guard did, however, regret the conditions the prisoners were kept in.

ISIS' caliphate has crumbled after they stormed across Iraq and Syria (Image: GETTY)

When asked if he had ever killed anyone, he said: “No, never.”

But during the interview, Kotey did mention Ken Bigley, the British engineer beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2004, saying he watched a video of his murder while still on British soil.

“It replaced Hollywood,” he said. “It’s real and I guess this is entertainment, unfortunately. There’s a large portion of people who see that as entertainment.”

The jihadi went on to admit that the beheadings “made an enemy of everybody” and even claims that he and other IS fighters secretly “mocked” the Jihadi John videos.

He said: “Nobody thought they were fruitful or beneficial in any way.

“We used to mock them, we would ridicule them. we would laugh at the state obviously not laughing at the beheadings but this was all staged.”

Kotey also spoke of his devastation after the death of Jihadi John. “I cried,” he said. “I decided to stay at home for while and not speak to anybody. I don’t think anyone dared go to his funeral except the people in hospital and the ones who buried him.”

Asked what he would say to his 15-year-old self whose ambition was to travel abroad for jihad, he said: “I would strongly advise him against it.”