British ISIS Beatle 'Ringo' reveals he SAVED 'close friend' Jihadi John's life before the killer went on to behead Western hostages

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7151739/Ringo-ISIS-Beatles-gang-reveals-saved-Jihadi-Johns-life-executed-Westerners.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
British ISIS Beatle 'Ringo' reveals he SAVED 'close friend' Jihadi John's life before the killer went on to behead Western hostages... as he says he hopes to bring his secret wife and three children home to live in the UK
Alexanda Kotey met Jihadi John growing up in Ladbroke Grove in west London
The pair traveled to Syria together and remained firm friends during their stay
Kotey, 35, spoke of how he wept when he learnt that his close friend had died 
By TERRI-ANN WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 00:24, 18 June 2019 | UPDATED: 07:46, 18 June 2019
A member of the ISIS Beatles gang has revealed he saved Jihadi John's life before he went on to execute Western hostages.
Alexanda Kotey, also known as Ringo, had allowed fellow Brit Jihadi John to rise in the ISIS ranks, becoming the caliphate's executioner, by saving his life on the battle field.

Kotey, 35, has now revealed all about his friendship with fellow Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, in a shocking jail confession.

Kotey also admitted to having a family living in Syria with whom he wants to live in the UK, despite having been stripped of his citizenship.

He has a wife, and three girls, aged five, three and one and is hopeful of one day seeing them again. 

He said: 'As far as I'm concerned I'm British and I'll remain British'.

Alexanda Kotey (pictured above) spoke of how Jihadi John had been his friend and that he was extremely emotional when he learnt of his friends death +6

Both Kotey and Emwazi had been in a terror cell dubbed The Beatles by their prisoners in Syria, Emwazi had been nicknamed John and Kotey, Ringo. 

Speaking to The Mirror, Kotey recalled how Emwazi killed a host of innocent victims, but that it didn't change his opinion on him because the killings actually only made up 'two minutes of his life'.

During the interview he is said to have got extremely emotional, admitting he wept when his friend was killed by a drone strike in November 2015.

He highlighted how he had originally saved Emwazi after he was shot by the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo in 2014.

He said: 'We were in the Aleppo countryside surrounded by Free Syrian Army factions and they'd taken the nearby town from us. We had been told to regain it and attacked.

We were attacking from a group of olive groves and tried to cut across an open field. He was in front of me. I was fighting alongside Emwazi. We got just half way and came under fire. We both went down and he was shot.

'He was lying there. The bullet had hit him in the back at an angle and we managed to roll into cover.'

Kotey said he held him in his lap and thought he was about to breath his last breath.

'I struggled with him and got him into a car and we rushed him to a makeshift hospital and he survived.' 

Kotey said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured above) had ordered many of the be-headings of Western hostages 

Then months later, and back to full health, Emwazi caused terror when he appeared in a series of internet videos beheading Western hostages.

Kotey is currently imprisoned outside Raqqa, and restrictions were put in place during the interview as to what could be revealed.

The 35-year-old also revealed he abused Western prisoners before they were beheaded and that he regrets joining ISIS. 

When asked if he ever beheaded anyone, he said: 'I can't say to be honest… I can't say I agree with it and I don't know what I would do in that situation…

'Obviously if there was a gun put to my head, I definitely… I wouldn't know… I would do.'  

At present the US State Department has classed him as a 'designated terrorist' who 'likely engaged in the group's executions and exceptionally cruel torture methods'.

He admits he was a recruiter, and had been responsible for recruiting UK nationals to join the organisation.

Despite actively recruiting for the group, he said he regretted 'becoming a jihadi' and now wants to return to the UK.

Alexanda Kotey (left) and El Shafee Elsheikh (right) confessed to helping the terror group ransom western captives back to their families

However he also spoke of his bond with Emwazi, and how it had been forged growing up in the Ladbroke Grove area of London.

The pair had both previously been linked to the 'London Boys' network of extremists, who were known to trade essays on Islam.

In 2012 the pair traveled to Syria together. Then as thugs took grip in the region, Emwazi become involved in executions and was shown beheading Westerners in 2014.

Kotey said he privately objected to the films, but remained friends with Emwazi. They were such good friends that even their wives grew close and stayed in touch.

Kotey had been at IS 'sniper school' when he heard the news of his friends death


VIDEO ITV EXCLUSIVE
He said: 'I cried. I was completing my sniper training in the Hama area [in the west of the country].

'We'd done the theory, this was the practical. We were living in caves because there was a lot of bombardments at the time.

'I asked the person in charge of snipers if I could be allowed to return to Raqqa to check out news about a friend and he allowed me to go.

'I didn't tell him who he was. I didn't like to make it known I had that ­relationship. Emwazi himself was not known – I mean that he was the person behind the mask.'

He said many people were not aware his friend had been killed.

'I cried and decided to stay at home for while and not speak to anybody. I don't think anyone dared to go to his funeral except people in the hospital and the ones who buried him.'

Due to various videos and media statements, Jihadi John's status grew – and with this he became more remote, having being warned he was a target for the CIA.

One of his first victims had been US journalist James Foley, who was held with a number of other Western hostages.
James Foley (pictured above) had been one of Jihadi John's first victims when he was beheaded by the militant 

A video released in August 2014 saw him being killed, and was followed by the killings of Alan Henning, Peter Kassig and Steven Sotloff.

Two Japanese civilians were also murdered.

This is while UK journalist John Cantlie survived the initial executions, but was later feared to have been killed in Mosul.

Speaking of the level of secrecy around location, Kotey said Emwazi wouldn't of even been able to contact his wife during that period.

Aid worker Alan Henning (pictured above with a young child ) was also killed by Jihadi John

'We didn't know where his house was because at the beginning of the beheadings he moved. Whenever he wanted to visit he'd come to our house.

'He never gave his location. I didn't find out where he lived until he was killed. He was not far from me.'

Speaking about his friendship with Emwazi, he said it would be difficult for someone else to understand the dynamics of the relationship.

'I was there when he got married, I held his baby. I held him when he was shot and taking what I thought to be his last breath and he was passed out on my lap. When you go through ­experiences like that with someone...'

Despite showing a strong emotional connection to Emwazi, Kotey was aware that her alliance with friend may not do him any favours.

'I didn't have a lot of interaction with him to be honest, to say if he changed as a person in Syria. I guess he took on more of a persona of ­leadership or someone who had a whole different level of responsibility.

'I understood from him there were things he didn't agree with but the difference between him and others was that he was prepared to be obedient towards the leadership.'
VIDEO
During the interview Kotey admitted that instructions to behead hostages had come from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said that Emwazi had met him.

Probed about his feelings on the beheading videos he said: 'It's not something I give a lot of thought about – when I think about him, what he done, despite my disagreement with what he done.

'It's not something that overshadows my memories of him. They were very short. They were powerful messages but they were very short, two minutes of his life.'

'I can't, erm, honestly turn a blind eye to them.' 

The Western hostages captured, tortured and killed by the beheading gang
American journalist who kept up fellow prisoners' morale 



James Foley, from Illinois, in the US, was a journalist who first went missing in November 2012.



On his way to an internet cafe,  while reporting for the GlobalPost, he had been taken hostage at gunpoint by militants from the group Jabhat al Nusra in Taftanaz, northern Syria.



Jabhat al Nusra subsequently joined forces with ISIS - which did not exist in anything like its current form when Mr Foley was taken.



Mr Foley joined other prisoners, who were European and British, in the ISIS prison and despite attempts to rescue him, he was eventually murdered by his captors.



His fellow prisoners spoke kindly of Foley, who called people 'Bro' and never argued over shortages of food, despite meagre rations equating to cup of food-a-day, often sharing his portion and his blanket. 



Mr Foley often made efforts to maintain prisoners' morale, persuading them to play games and to give talks on their favourite subjects.



He even organised a 'Secret Santa' during Christmas 2013, encouraging hostages to make gifts out of whatever they could find. 



ISIS posted his execution video, titled 'A Message to America' to social media as proof of his death.



In scripted remarks before his killing, kneeling in an orange jump suit, he said: 'I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again. 



'But that ship has sailed. I guess all in all I wish I wasn't American.


 'The guy lit up a room': US freelance journalist who was an avid rugby player
Steven Sotloff, 31, from Miami, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy 
magazines, vanished in Syria in 2013


US journalist Steven Sotloff, 31, vanished in Syria in August 2013.


Mr Sotloff was not seen again until he appeared in a video released online by ISIS on August 2014, that showed James Foley's beheading.


In a second clip, published weeks later, entitled 'A Second Message to America,' Mr Sotloff appeared in a orange jumpsuit before he is beheaded by an Islamic State fighter.


The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Mr Sotloff grew up Miami, before attending the Kimball Union Academy boarding school in New Hampshire before studying at the University of Central Florida. 


While at Kimball, Mr Sotloff was an avid rugby player and on moving to UFC began working for the student newspaper there, the Central Florida Future.


He left this paper in 2005 and began to pursue his dreams of journalism full time.


'The guy lit up a room. He was always such a loyal, caring and good friend to us,' former roommate Josh Polsky told the New York Times. 


'If you needed to rely on anybody for anything he would drop everything on a dime for you or for anyone else.'


Sotloff travelled to the Middle East as a freelance journalist and wrote reports from Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Turkey and Syria.


He often had pieces in Time and Foreign Policy magazines.


'A million people could have told him what he was doing was foolish, as it seemed to us outsiders looking in, but to him it was what he loved to do and you weren't going to stop him,' his friend, Emerson Lotzia, said.


'Steve said it was scary over there. It was dangerous. It wasn't safe to be over there. He knew it. He kept going back.' 


British taxi driver who volunteered as an aid worker
Alan Henning, a father-of-two, was kidnapped on Boxing Day 2013 as he delivered aid to Syrian refugees.

The taxi-driver, from Manchester, was kept hostage until he was beheaded by Jihadi John on video in October 2014.   

Before he was killed, Mr Henning was forced to tell the camera that he was being murdered in retaliation for parliament's decision to attack ISIS.  

Originally from Salford, he had seen the suffering first hand during a life-changing visit to a refugee camp, which inspired him to help the innocents whose lives were being wrecked by the conflict.

After volunteering with a Muslim charity, the 47-year-old agreed to drive 3,000 miles in a convoy of old ambulances to help the aid effort and take much-needed medical supplies to hospitals in the northern Syrian province of Idlib.

Known as 'Gadget' to friends and family for his fondness for technology, Mr Henning had been washing cars in the UK to raise money for donations before setting off on his fourth visit to the country.

He travelled with eight others from charity Al-Fathiha Global, who intended to deliver vital equipment, including NHS ambulances packed with baby milk, nappies, food and defibrillators, but was kidnapped by ISIS extremists on Boxing Day, shortly after making the 4,000-mile journey to the town of Al-Dana.

A fan of Phil Collins, which he enjoyed playing as he drove, Mr Henning was incredibly popular and during one trip insisted on sleeping inside his ambulance instead of a hotel to save money so it could be donated to the refugees instead.

Kasim Jameel, leader of the convoy on which Mr Henning was travelling when he was kidnapped, described his friend as a 'big softie.'

Dr Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar, who was also in the convoy, said Mr Henning was 'remarkable.'

'He's such a compassionate and selfless human being,' she said. 'It just simply wasn't enough for Alan to sit back and just donate or raise awareness.

He had to get up and do something about what he'd seen Every time the convoys went he had a yearning to go. That really motivated him, to see, practically, first-hand the difference he was making.' 

Scottish father-of-two who spent his career as an aid worker
David Haines, who was beheaded a week after Steven Sotloff, was the first British victim of Jihadi John. 

The father-of-two, from Holderness, East Yorkshire, was taken hostage while working for relief agency ACTED in Syria in March this year.

He was captured near the Atmeh refugee camp, just inside the Syrian border with Turkey. 

Mr Haines spent his career as an aid worker helping to protect innocent civilians in developing nations.

For more than two decades, he travelled with aid agencies through Syria, Libya, the former Yugoslavia and South Sudan.

He dedicated his life to promoting peace in places of violent conflict and oversaw projects to save civilians from land mines.

The 44-year-old was described as a hero by his family, who were inspired by him to travel the world on further aid missions.

He had a teenage daughter in Scotland from a previous marriage with his first wife, and a four-year-old daughter, Athea, in Croatia from his second wife.

Mr Haines was brought up in Perth, Scotland, and studied at Perth Academy before joining the military aged 17.

According to his online CV he spent 11 years in the military, holding 'various positions covering security and threat assessments in a number of different countries' between 1988 and 1999.

It did not specify with which armed forces he served, although his ISIS execution video claimed he had been in the Royal Air Force. 

His brother Mike later confirmed this, saying he was an engineer.

26-year-old who was helping refugees while living in Beirut 
Peter Kassig, a 26-year-old from Indiana, started a non-profit organisation called Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA).

The Iraq war veteran, who was living in Beirut to provide relief for refugees of the Syrian crisis, was beheaded by ISIS executioner Jihadi John, in November 2014.

Writing on his profile page on fundraising website FundRazr, Mr Kassig said he had previously worked as a medic in a hospital in Tripoli, Lebanon.

He said: 'When I first started this cause to help those in need, I was on my own but I saw first-hand the shortages in available resources and supplies for people who were suffering in Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey as a result of the violence.

'The amount of feedback and support from people all around the world motivated me to get organised and develop a platform through which people could send donations to support the continuation of my work.'

Kassig joined the U.S. Army Rangers in 2006 and was deployed to Iraq in 2007.

He was honourably discharged for medical reasons after a brief tour and returned to the United States to study political science.

However, in 2010, he decided to take time off from his studies and began his certification as an emergency medical technician.

He then decided to travel to Beirut to try and help those in need as a result of the Syria crisis.

It was after a short time in the country that he started up his own aid group, SERA.

Few details are publicly known about how Kassig was taken captive.