To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

New BBC Doc 'In the Face of Terror' On ‘Jihadi John’ Is Coming Next Month

New BBC Doc 'In the Face of Terror' On ‘Jihadi John’ Is Coming Next Month

Viewers will hear from the families on the hunt for justice.

Ciara Sheppard

Ciara Sheppard

A new BBC documentary is set to examine the 2014 and 2015 beheadings of British and American hostages at the hands of the man dubbed Jihadi John.

Harrowing three-part docuseries In The Face of Terror, set to air on Monday 5th October on BBC Two, will follow the families who are still searching for justice after two deadly acts of terror.

The documentaries will examine two terror incidents that shocked the world: Jihadi John's hostage beheadings and the 2019 far-right attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 people were shot dead in the city's mosques.

In the first, we will hear from the families of the American and British hostages who were held in captivity is Syria by a British terror group, who they dubbed 'the Beatles', as they recount their search for their loved ones and fight to bring them back.

Viewers will hear from Diane and John Foley, the parents of American photojournalist Jim Foley, who was the first Western hostage to be captured by the group in Syria.

Pierre Torres reunited with his family after being freed (
PA)

Desperate to find out any clues about their son's whereabouts, the Foleys went against FBI advice and went public about his disappearance. Soon after, they heard from a father in Belgium, whose son had broken free from ISIS.

French journalist Pierre Torres recounts how he was captured at gunpoint by masked men in Raqqa and transferred to a prison of Westerners, where he met Jim.

He tells of how be bonded with British aid worker David Haines, whose convoy was ambushed after visiting a refugee camp. The prisoners were moved to a new camp where they were guarded by three British jihadists who they (needing to find some humour in their predicament) named 'the Beatles' - John, George and Ringo.

The Spanish government negotiated the released of three of their countryman, and this is where David Haines' brother Mike Haines learnt of his brothers whereabouts. One of the captives came out with a letter in his brother's handwriting which contained a ransom demand of 100m euros. Despite Mike's best efforts to get in touch with ISIS, they never responded.

Shortly after, Pierre and the other French hostages were freed.

Meanwhile, in the US the Foleys were raising funds for Jim's release but they were threatened with jail if they dared to pay the ransom, with America's policy being not to engage with terrorists.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant propaganda photo showing the execution of American journalist Steven Sotloff by masked ISIS militant Jihadi John in September 2014 (
PA)

What they didn't know is that the US were about to embark on a rescue mission to save the remaining hostages, but it was too late - the hostages were moved and they were forced to abort.

What came next shocked the world: on 9 August 2014, a video was uploaded to YouTube which showed Jim being beheaded by a masked man, who was soon dubbed Jihadi John by the press.

Over the next five months, as one of the world's largest manhunts went on, Jihadi John went on to behead six more of the hostages - another being David Haines.

The executioner was eventually named as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26 year-old computer programmer from West London.

In The Face of Terror begins on Monday 5th October at 9pm on BBC Two.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: Entertainment News, TV and Film