An eight-year-old boy believed to have been taken to Syria by his radicalised mother had scrawled the word 'jihad' across the walls of his play room.

Rehana Begum Islam abandoned her husband of 14 years, vanishing overnight with her eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. The 33-year-old travelled from Heathrow to Istanbul where she is believed to have entered Syria with her young children.

But before the boy was taken, a neighbour has revealed that the walls of his play room in the family shed were daubed with the word 'jihad' by the child, who was taught how to pray by his mother.

An eight-year-old boy believed to have been taken to Syria by his radicalised mother had scrawled the word 'jihad' across the walls of his play room, pictured above

Runaway: Rehana Islam with husband Azizul and their two children, whose identities are protected

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, a friend of the mother-of-two took reporters around the house and garden of the family, in Enfield, north London, where she showed them the shed where the children would play.

She said: 'She tried as much as possible to raise her child this right way.

'He is a very special boy, at the age of eight he prays, she taught him how to pray, he said she made him go to special school. He goes to an Islamic school. They are nice kids you know.'

She said that Mrs Islam was a 'nice person' but that she had seemed 'depressed and moody' before she fled her home, claiming that was going on a two-week break in Wales.

The woman said: 'She has got kids and she was like every mother, you know when your kids are misbehaving, you are shouting "stop this, stop that".

'(She was) moody and depressed. She would keep saying to me, 'this is not me, I wasn’t this person before. I am having this pressure', I think because she was having problems with her marriage.

'Always shouting shouting, shouting, shouting.'

When asked if the Mrs Islam had mentioned her plans to go to Syria, the neighbour said: 'No she said she was going to Wales, she needed a two week break.

'Every time the conversation was leading to religion, I would kill it. She was too on the other side. Too extreme.

'She would say the Muslims are being killed as a protest. I said to her "stop".'

She is believed to have been helped by Syrian Mohammed al-Rashed, who was arrested last week on suspicion of getting the three east London schoolgirls across the border.

Her passport details were found on his laptop – showing she and her children have been with Islamic State fanatics for five weeks.

Mrs Islam's devastated husband Azizul has previously told reporters he has not stopped crying since police revealed she had travelled to Gaziantep, a popular gateway to Syria for foreign fighters and jihadi brides.

Intelligence revealed Mrs Islam's documents were found on Mohammed al-Rashed's laptop, who was arrested on suspicion of helping Shamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase (pictured) become jihadi brides

'It's really hard for me,' said the 36-year-old minicab driver. 'I haven't seen my kids for more than one month. I can't even sleep without my kids.

'My question is why did she go there? She has two kids, she has a family, and this house is in her name. Why has she left everything? This is really unbelievable.

'When the police told me she travelled to Gaziantep – I've seen it in the news, so many British people are trying to travel there – it came into my mind that maybe she's gone to Syria but still I can't believe it.'

Turkish intelligence sources revealed her ID documents were found on the laptop of Mohammed al-Rashed.

He was arrested on suspicion of helping Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, become jihadi brides in Syria.

All three attended Bethnal Green academy in Tower Hamlets.

Al-Rashed, 28, is said to have told detectives he has mainly helped British fighters but also South Africans and Australians. The details of two other Britons, aged 19 and 29, were on his laptop.

Mr Islam said: 'He must've also helped her to get there.

'I'm worried about my kids, I hope she comes back with my kids. Please. She's going to destroy my two kids' lives.

'IS is killing Muslim people as well. My religion doesn't say anything about killing people.

'If you're Muslim you should know that the Koran doesn't say this. These people are dangerous.'

The Bangladeshi-born father said he had no idea how his wife, who suffers from depression, had become radicalised.

He did not know that the former RBS clerk posted frequently on Facebook about Islam. But he said she spent a lot of time on her smartphone.

Mrs Islam took her laptop with her when she disappeared. Her husband added: 'If I knew anything I would do everything to stop my wife, especially my two kids. I do everything for my kids since they were born. I look after the kids like I'm their mother.

Schoolgirls Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15, and Amira Abase, 15, (pictured at Gatwick airport) fled to Turkey before crossing the border into Syria where they are believed to have become ISIS jihadi brides

'I play the role of mother because my wife can't handle them sometimes. When I married her she wasn't religious, she was like a normal girl, she didn't even cover herself. But a couple of years ago she started covering up and praying five times a day.'

Mr Islam, who works nights in Enfield, north London, said he suspected his wife was missing when he came home in the early hours.

'I couldn't see anyone in the house but most of the weekends she spends at her sister's house, it's not far, it's round the corner,' he said.

'I tried calling her big sister but she said she wasn't there. We called her friends, relatives and made phone calls, but no one knew so we called the police.

'The police told me she took a flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Istanbul. When they found out that she flew to Gaziantep maybe then they thought she went to Syria. I don't have any clue.'

Turkish intelligence sources said British authorities did not inform them that Mrs Islam might be travelling to Syria until February 23 – nine days after she landed in the country.

Turkey has faced criticism for not controlling its border with Syria, but has accused European states in turn of failing to prevent would-be jihadists from leaving in the first place.

There are increasing concerns about the growing numbers of young people being lured to the war zone in Syria and Iraq. Security services estimate that more than 600 Britons have gone to join militant groups since the explosion of violence in the region began.