Revealed: The first Briton to join Islamic State | ITV News

The case of Hudaifa Elgerbouzi from West London has never been reported on, thanks in part to his own discretion.

Following an ITV News investigation he can now be unmasked as a senior so-called Islamic State figure involved in the kidnap of western hostages - a lieutenant to members of the all-British execution cell known as "The Beatles", according to multiple sources.

The Londoner was the very first British recruit to join Isis a few days after its formation six year ago, and he soon became notorious, even among other fighters, for his bravado and brutality. “He was a psychopath… trying to fulfil his violent and criminal fantasies with God’s stamp of approval,” said one of his close associates in Syria, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But it was when he teamed up with friends from West London to help form a cell of British fighters that he entered the upper echelons of the organisation. “He was willing to justify anything sadistic or anything wrong that Isis had done without feeling in any way funny about it,” said the former friend, describing his “unquestioning” commitment to the group.

Elgerbouzi planned to go to Syria alongside a former schoolfriend, Alexande Kotey, who he had held in high regard since they were both teenagers. That classroom affection continued when they reached the Islamic State, where Kotey allegedly became the lead member of an execution gang described by its hostages as ‘The Beatles’ because of their British accents. The group included Mohammed Emwazi, known as ‘Jihadi John’, who was filmed by Isis executing captives and who had also been a friend of Elgerbouzi’s in London.

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