The ISIS “Beatles”: British Extremists in Syria (2014–2018)
Among the most infamous figures of the Islamic State (ISIS) were a group of four British jihadists nicknamed “the Beatles” for their English accents by the Western hostages they guarded and abused in Syria.
This cell was responsible for some of ISIS’s most brutal atrocities against foreign captives, including the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, American aid worker Peter Kassig, British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, and others.
The most notorious member was Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner who became ISIS’s chilling executioner on camera. Emwazi appeared masked in multiple propaganda videos in 2014, taunting Western leaders and savagely beheading hostages on film.
Speaking with a London accent and wielding a knife, he became the face of ISIS’s barbarism. Emwazi had grown up in West London and earned a college degree in IT. A stark transformation from educated British youth to gleeful killer.
In November 2015, after a months-long hunt, Emwazi was targeted by a US drone strike in Raqqa, Syria. The Pentagon was highly confident the strike killed him and later ISIS confirmed his death.
British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Emwazi’s demise, calling him a “barbaric murderer” and saying this strike was “an act of self-defence” against a man who posed an ongoing threat. Emwazi’s death, however, was not the end of the Beatles.
Two of his British accomplices: Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, both from West London continued ISIS’s reign of terror until the collapse of the caliphate. Kotey (nicknamed “Jihadi George” by some hostages) and Elsheikh (“Jihadi Ringo”) were ruthless jailers known for torturing and beating prisoners in ISIS captivity.
They helped run an illegal prison where western hostages were held in horrific conditions, and they personally took part in acts of torture and degrading abuse, according to survivors.
By 2018, as ISIS lost territory, Kotey and Elsheikh tried to escape Syria but were captured by Kurdish forces. In 2020, they were handed over to U.S. authorities to face justice. The UK had stripped both men of British citizenship and agreed to their extradition.
In April 2022, a U.S. federal jury convicted El Shafee Elsheikh on charges of terrorist hostage-taking, conspiracy, and involvement in the murders of American citizens. A few months later, in August 2022, Elsheikh was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the United States.
The U.S. District Judge, T.S. Ellis, highlighted the brutality of Elsheikh’s actions, describing his behaviour as “horrific, barbaric, brutal and of course criminal”. Family members of the victims confronted Elsheikh in court.
Diane Foley, mother of James Foley, addressed the terrorist directly, saying: “Hatred completely overtook your humanity… I pity you. I pray your time in prison will give you a time to reflect.”. Similarly, Alexanda Kotey pleaded guilty in the U.S. and was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 for his role in the deadly hostage scheme.
The fourth “Beatle,” Aine Davis, had a lower profile in the ISIS hierarchy but was alleged to be part of the same cell. A former London drug dealer who converted to radical Islam, Davis went to Syria and reportedly served as an ISIS guard.
He was arrested in Turkey in 2015 and imprisoned there on terrorism charges. In 2022, after completing his Turkish sentence, Davis was extradited back to the UK to face trial. As of 2025, Aine Davis has been charged in a British court with terrorism offenses related to ISIS; his case is ongoing.
