Jihadi John: Mohammed Emwazi’s school attended by three terrorists

From The Sunday Telegraph

It has emerged that the school of Mohammed Emwazi was attended by two other men who subsequently became linked to Islamist terror groups. 

Choukri Ellekhlifi, a contemporary of Jihadi John at Quintin Kynaston academy, was killed in Syria in 2013 after joining up with an al-Qaeda terror group. The disclosure comes after The Telegraph reported another pupil at the school, Mohammed Sakr, had died fighting for al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, in Somalia.

Their deaths and the fact that Mohammed Emwazi, the real name of “Jihadi John”, went to the school will inevitably raise questions over what measures had been put in place to tackle the radicalisation of Muslim teenagers. On Saturday night the Government announced a review into the matter.

Jo Shuter, the headteacher at the time, was a favourite with Tony Blair, although she spectacularly fell from grace in 2013, after being found guilty of using school funds “inappropriately”. 

On Saturday, sources at Quintin Kynaston (QK) confirmed that Ellekhlifi, who was 22 when he died, and Sakr, 27, had attended. Emwazi, 26, is thought to have been two years above Ellekhlifi at school. Alex Atherton, the headteacher, insisted the school was no longer a breeding ground for terrorists. “…Students that may have attended nine years ago are not a reflection of the students we are proud of having at QK…”

A former pupil in the same year as Ellekhlifi recalled how the Moroccan-born boy had become increasingly radicalised. The former pupil said: “When he [Ellekhlifi] joined he was just one of the Moroccan football lads. They all spent time with each other by virtue of the fact they all came from Edgware Road. Towards the end there was a shift to becoming more Islamic. They started wearing headwear and they became more detached from everyone else. I think QK had a suspicion that this was going on, but I wouldn’t say they knew completely.”

The student suggested Ellekhlifi was not allowed to stay on for the sixth form, while another said he left at the end of the lower sixth. He had become increasingly troublesome and, in 2012, fled to Syria, after skipping bail on armed robbery charges.

Another school acquaintance of Emwazi told how the future killer became radical and angry. “He was in the year above me at school,” the former pupil said. “I am a Muslim as well, but not really that religious. The thing is that [Emwazi] looked like a character not to mess with.” 

On Saturday night Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, ordered her officials to conduct an urgent review of all available evidence about QK.