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Jihadi Jack’s mother says son’s obsession with Islam was due to OCD

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Jihadi Jack’s mother says son’s obsession with Islam was due to OCD

Jihadi Jack’s mother tells court her son’s obsession with Islam and ISIS was triggered by his OCD

  • Sally Lane and John Letts are accused of funding terrorism by sending son cash 
  • Lawyers say police gave the parents a ‘green light’ to send money to Jihadi Jack
  • Old Bailey Jurors heard how Jack was 15 when he was diagnosed with OCD

By Christian Gysin for the Daily Mail

Published: 19:42 EDT, 5 June 2019 | Updated: 20:48 EDT, 5 June 2019

The mother of Jihadi Jack (pictured) told yesterday how her son suffered from OCD and she believed Islam had become an obsession as he struggled with the condition

The mother of Jihadi Jack told yesterday how her son suffered from OCD and she believed Islam had become an obsession as he struggled with the condition.

Sally Lane and John Letts are accused of funding terrorism by sending cash to their son Jack while he was living in the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.

Their lawyers say counter-terrorism police gave the parents a ‘green light’ to send money to their 24-year-old son.

Yesterday jurors at the Old Bailey heard how Jack was 15 when he was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette’s Syndrome and his parents took him to a mental health centre.

His 57-year-old mother Lane told how she believed his conditions were at the heart of his conversion and radicalisation. ‘At the time, we thought Islam would be one of his obsessions,’ the book publisher said yesterday as she gave evidence.

‘He would learn everything he could about it and then move on to something else. After his conversion, his obsession turned to centre very much around praying and washing.

‘Everything had to be done in a certain order and if he made a mistake, he had to do it again. We actually talked about these rituals with the doctor when he went to the mental health organisation and said we think they are actually associated with his OCD.’

Lane said her son first spoke of his desire to leave the IS caliphate and return to the UK in December 2015.

Sally Lane and John Letts (pictured leaving court) are accused of funding terrorism by sending cash to their son Jack while he was living in the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria

Using Facebook he asked his mother: ‘If I return to England what would happen?’ Lane replied: ‘What sort of question is that? We know you are not coming back’. But she then added: ‘We thought this was a big break through. That finally he had said that he wanted to leave, and he had stated explicitly that he completely disagreed with Isis [IS].’

The prosecution allege Lane and Letts, 58, jointly attempted to send £1,723 to their son between September 2015 and January 2016.

The couple, from Oxford, both deny three charges of entering into a funding arrangement for the purposes of terrorism.

The trial continues.

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