Daughter of murdered aid worker Alan Henning comes face-to-face with member of Islamic State terror cell dubbed The Beatles in US court
29.04.2022 - 23:39
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The daughter of murdered aid worker Alan Henning came face to face with a member of the so-called Islamic State terror cell known as The Beatles as he was jailed for life over his role in the murder of US hostages in Syria.
Alexanda Amon Kotey, 38, originally from Paddington, London, showed no emotion as judge Thomas Selby Ellis delivered his verdict at Alexandria District Court, Virginia, while members of his victims’ families watched on. He pleaded guilty to a host of charges relating to US victims only, although the families of other murdered hostages, including British humanitarians David Haines and Salford's Alan Henning, read shocking impact statements to the court.
Mr Henning, a dad-of-two, was an Eccles taxi driver turned humanitarian aid worker when he was kidnapped while delivering aid to Syria in 2013 and became the fourth Western hostage killed by Islamic State 11 months later. The brutal murder was revealed in a beheading video on October 3, 2014.
READ MORE:'F****** put the lights on', man tells neighbour after pulling 'gun' on him
Today Mr Henning’s daughter Lucy told the US court she discovered a picture of her father’s headless body while scrolling on Instagram. “He wasn’t a religious man or into politics, he was just my dad,” she said.
“If I wasn’t such a moody teenager maybe he wouldn’t have gone (to Syria),” she added, drawing gasps of sympathy from members of the court. "In my eyes I feel just as much to blame as anyone else."
Kotey was given one life sentence for each of the eight counts he has pleaded guilty to, which are due to run concurrently.
Judge Ellis described his actions as 'egregious, violent and inhumane' but praised the victims and their family as 'undeniably heroes'.
Speaking of the