One of three schoolgirls who travelled from east London to join Isis in Syria has said she has no regrets but now wants to return to the UK.

Shamima Begum, now 19, left with two of her friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, during the half-term break from the Bethnal Green Academy in February 2015.

The heavily pregnant teenager who recently fled to a Syrian refugee camp told The Times: “I’m not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don’t regret coming here.”

Ms Begum married Yago Riedijk, a Dutch convert and Isis fighter, days after arriving in the Syrian city of Raqqa in 2015.

Her husband was later accused of spying on the group and jailed. He was tortured by his captors, but later released from prison.

Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Show all 6 1 /6 Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Oil spills in Qayyarah, northern Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Plumes of black smoke from burning oil wells hung over Qayyarah for several months Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq The burning of oil wells and oil spills have caused long term damage to the environment in Iraq Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Experts still do not know the extent of the damage from Isis's burning of oil wells and polluting of rivers Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq Soil and water pollution is high in northern Iraq and impacting agriculture Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX Isis’s ‘scorched earth’ tactics damaged northern Iraq There are fears if environmental damage is not taken seriously agriculture in northern Iraq could be destroyed Wim Zwijnenburg/PAX

“Mostly it was a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff,” she said. “But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn’t faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.”

As Isis lost territory, Ms Begum gave birth to a daughter and a son. Both children fell ill and later died.

“In the end, I just could not endure any more,” she said, although she nonetheless appeared supportive of Isis. “I just couldn’t take it. I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on. So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.”

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

She last saw her husband two weeks ago, when the couple fled the eastern community of Baghuz, one of terror group's last strongholds. He surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters.

Although she knew "what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online", she said: "I just want to come home to have my child. That’s all I want right now. I’ll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.”

The teenager's sister Renu told ITV News that she was happy to hear that her sister was alive.

"I’m so relieved that my sister has been found, safe and sound," she said. "We are aware that she has been trying to get out. We lost contact with her for the longest of time. We are happy to know that she is okay."