A British man who travelled to Syria to fight against Islamic State shot himself to avoid a "painful and frightening death", an inquest has heard.

Ryan Lock, from Chichester, died last December fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Raqqa.

The 20-year-old had only been in the war-torn country for four months, and he died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Mr Lock had been seriously injured in battle and was surrounded by IS fighters when he decided to kill himself to avoid being captured or tortured.


His mother, Catherine Lock, had no idea that her son was planning on travelling to Syria. Instead, she thought he was going backpacking around Turkey.

Image: The former chef had told his family he was going on holiday in Turkey

She said: "He just said that he had planned this for ages and that he had time off work. He said he would be going for a few weeks, maybe a month.

"And when I found out he was going to Turkey I said: 'You do realise that's right next to Syria, where there is a war.'

"I hadn't twigged that was exactly his plan, to head to Syria."

A day after Mr Lock arrived in Turkey last August, he told his mother that he had signed up to fight for the People's Defence Units (YPG), a Kurdish military force.

She contacted the police immediately and continued to stay in contact with her son on Facebook Messenger, where he regularly posted pictures of himself during his military training.

Image: The 20-year-old had no previous military experience

It was at the start of December that Mr Lock's mother became increasingly concerned because she had not heard from him for two weeks.

His father started looking for information online and came across a picture of his son's body, with an IS fighter standing over him.

Mr Lock, who worked as a chef, had no previous military training. However, he had always shown an interest in joining the Army and enjoyed playing military-style computer games.

A Canadian man who is believed to have fought alongside him in Syria wrote to Ms Lock following his death, and said her son had "died a true hero" and his sacrifice would be remembered.

Dozens of people, including members of the Kurdish community, held roses and framed pictures of Mr Lock when his body was repatriated to the UK at Heathrow Airport in February.

In court, the coroner told Mr Lock's parents that they should be proud of their son, who gave up a comfortable life in West Sussex to fight for a cause he passionately believed in.

Recording a narrative verdict, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire coroner David Horsley described Mr Lock as a "heroic young man".