Britain does not want the two “Beatles” henchmen of Jihadi John returned to the UK to face trial, the Standard reveals today.

The “preferred” option emerging from the Government is for them to be sent to America. However, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee El-sheikh could still face justice in Syria, where they are being held, if extraditing them to the US proves problematic.

Talks were held in Washington over the weekend that are understood to have included the fate of the two captured members of the “Beatles” gang whose beheading videos horrified the world. Many of their victims were American.

The first victim was US photojournalist James Foley, 40, in 2014. His mother Diane has called for life sentences for Kotey, 34, from Shepherd’s Bush, and El-sheikh, 29, from White City, after a “trial in the US”.

If the two are sent to America, then Britain will push for them to be held in the mainstream prison system rather than Guantanamo Bay. The UK would also oppose the death penalty for the men, who are believed to have been stripped of their British passports.

Legal experts say it could be harder to convict them in the UK given that it is more difficult to use intelligence in British than American courts.

One minister said: “It is important they get a fair trial but there is no desire to see them brought back to Britain. It could turn into a circus if they came here.”

Another Whitehall source added: “Bringing those people back would be fraught with risk and would create a security nightmare. Trying to haul them through the British courts would be an open recruiting day for Islamic State.”

Another minister said: “We would oppose them being sent to Guantanamo Bay which would be exploited by extremist elements.”

Extradition work could start as early as May or June and Kotey and El-sheikh could be sent to the US during the summer, though some people would see this as a softer option than a trial in Syria.

The second minister said: “The best solution might be for them to be tried in the [Syria] region for crimes they are accused of having committed there and held in a local jail if convicted.”

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson previously suggested British jihadis should be barred from the UK and hunted and killed. He said: “I do not believe that any terrorist, whether they come from this country or any other, should ever be allowed back into this country.”

The men are understood to have been detained in January by US-allied Kurdish militia fighters targeting the remaining pockets of IS extremists near the river Euphrates on the Iraq-Syria border.

Recently, they have sparked disgust with a series of interviews in which they have shown little remorse for their alleged appalling acts of cruelty. Kotey described the execution of hostages as “regrettable”.

Along with Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, who has been killed, and Aine Davis, currently in jail in Turkey, they are believed to have been part of a group of four Londoners named after the Sixties band because of their English accents.