I kept the four girls in an abandoned house. Each night I would have sex with a different one,” the dishevelled-looking man told the judge matter of factly. “Sometimes they seemed scared, but they never said no. They were all virgins when I got them and more beautiful than you can imagine.”

The suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighter standing before the Nineveh investigations court, 20 miles southeast of Mosul, seemed unrepentant as he confessed to his crimes; four counts of kidnap and rape of women belonging to the minority Yazidi sect and 10 counts of the murder of its men.

The evidence against Mohammed Ahmed filled several folders, which were stacked on top of a pile of a dozen or so others on Judge Arif’s desk.

Mr Arif continued to question 40-year-old Ahmed, who was struggling for breath and shaking. His eyes rolled and his chin lolled down to his chest. He had been made to wait outside in the blistering Iraqi sun since early morning and was evidently suffering.

“Give him some water,” the judge said to the clerk, gesturing towards the fridge in the corner of the room. The man gulped down the contents of the bottle in seconds and Mr Arif agreed to make an exception and let him sit for the remainder of the hearing.