Hero’s welcome at Heathrow for body of Ryan Lock who died after travelling to Syria to fight with Kurdish forces

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The body of a British man who died after travelling to Syria to join Kurdish militia in the fight against Islamic State has arrived back at Heathrow airport to a hero’s welcome.

Dozens of people, including members of the Kurdish community, held roses and pictures of Ryan Lock, 20, as his body was repatriated to the UK.

Lock, from Chichester, West Sussex, died in an Isis offensive during efforts to retake the northern city of Raqqa, considered the terrorist group’s capital.

The former chef joined Kurdish militia after telling his family he was going on holiday to Turkey in August. He had no previous military experience.

The People’s Defence Units (YPG), a Kurdish military force, told Lock’s family he died along with other fighters on 21 December.

Later it emerged that he shot himself to avoid falling captive to Isis and being held as a propaganda tool.

A military ceremony attended by dozens of pro-Kurdish fighters, representatives from political parties and NGOs was held in Rojava last month. Photographs of the ceremony showed a coffin displaying a photograph of Lock and a union flag, surrounded by armed militia.

As the body of Lock, who used the nom de guerre Berxwedan Givara, arrived in the UK, tributes were paid to him.

Supporters of the YPJ female fighting force said: “[His] memory will forever live on in our struggle for the freedom of Syria and our hope for change in the whole world.” One tweeted: “Rest in paradise Ryan Lock. You will remain a hero in Kurdish history.”

Mihyedin Xirki, a YPG general command member, had previously said Lock was a “martyr” who died “putting up a brave fight”.

Lock was the third British man to die fighting Isis with the Kurds in Syria. Dean Evans, 22, a dairy farmer from Reading, Berkshire, died in the city of Manbij in July and former Royal Marine Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, died in the northern village of Tel Khuzela in March 2015.

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Syria.