This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Muslim convert who is suspected of leaving Britain to join Islamic State has said he feels guilty after his parents were convicted of funding terrorism by sending him money in Syria.

Jack Letts, known as “Jihadi Jack”, said he was desperate to be reunited with his parents, who he has not seen since he travelled as a teenager to the war-torn country in 2014 from his Oxford home.

The couple’s conviction at the Old Bailey in London on Friday “doesn’t really make much sense”, the 23-year-old told Sky News from the prison in northern Syria where he has been held by Kurdish authorities accused of being a member of Isis.

He insisted British people were “my people” and added: “I’ve no intention of blowing them up, that’s probably important.”

His parents John Letts, a 58-year-old organic farmer, and Sally Lane, 57, a former Oxfam fundraising officer, were given suspended sentences.

The court heard they ignored repeated warnings their son had joined Isis in Syria and sent – or tried to send – a total of £1,723 to him despite being told three times by police not to.

The couple were found guilty of one charge of funding terrorism in September 2015, but cleared of the same charge in December 2015. A third charge relating to an attempt to send money in January 2016 was ordered to lie on file after jurors could not agree.

In a statement after their trial the couple maintained they did “what any parent would do if they thought that their child’s life was in danger”.

Their son, now 23, told Sky News: “I feel guilty for what I’ve put them through.”

He added: “It’s two 60-year-old atheists being convicted for Islamic terrorism, it doesn’t really make much sense.”

He said his parents had sent him money to leave Syria and that he had used some of it to buy basic essentials. “I really want to see them more than I’ve ever wanted to see them in my whole life,” he added.

The couple have told how the situation and the three-year court case has had devastating consequences on their lives.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Lane said her life was “in ruins” and Letts said the conviction “destroys me”.

The trial heard the pair refused to believe their son had become an extremist when they allowed him to travel. After the verdicts they said they remained “committed to help Jack return home”.