The British son of a Hollywood film director is the new face of al Qaeda.

Lucas Kinney, 26, has been appearing in extremist propaganda videos for the affiliated group Jabhat al Nusra, encouraging potential recruits to sign up.

His dad Patrick Kinney, 59, was assistant director on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Braveheart, and Rambo: First Blood Part II, according to IMDb.


Lucas is the first white British convert to turn up in Syria.

He grew up in a Catholic household, attended Catholic primary and secondary schools, and even spoke about becoming a Catholic priest when he was a teenager.

As a young adult, he was also in a band called Hannah’s Got Herpes.



So his religious conversion, and later radicalisation, came as a shock to his family.

Lucas posing outside a sex shop in Cairo (Picture: Facebook/Lucas Kinney)

‘Lucas is a target. I’m glad he’s associated with al Qaeda rather than Isis, but obviously I worry,’ his mum Deborah Phipps, 53, told Mail Online.

‘He’s married out there. I don’t know anything about her. They don’t have any children as far as I know, but this is recent, the last few months.

‘We just want him to come home. If he’s done something wrong I’d like him to accept the consequences. He’s still young – and at least he’s still alive.’

MORE: The entire Syrian war explained in one five minute video

MORE: ‘ISIS was not my cup of tea’, British mother who went to Syria says

Lucas went to Leeds University but dropped out after a year, and went to live with his dad in Vienna. It was there that he’s believed to have been radicalised.

He’s now featured in two propaganda videos under the nom de guerre Abu Basir al Britani.

In one of the videos, his green and white toothbrush can be seen tucked into his military webbing.

This prompted viewers to joke: ‘Don’t forget your toothbrush.’