Family of murdered Scot watch IS killer jailed

David Haines was working for a French aid agency when he was captured by Islamic State militants

The family of a Scottish aid worker have addressed a US court as a member of the notorious IS terror cell which executed him was sentenced.

The daughters, brother and wife of David Haines delivered powerful impact statements before London-born Alexanda Kotey was jailed for life.

Bethany Haines said she still wakes at night hearing her father's screams.

Mr Haines' brother Mike said the killers no longer had a hold over him - and he forgave them.

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Kotey was a member of a terror group nicknamed "the Beatles" - due to their British accents - who tortured and executed numerous hostages in Syria.

David Haines, who grew up in Perth, was helping to deliver aid for a French charity when he was captured in 2013.

He was beheaded the following year, with footage of the execution released as part of IS propaganda. His remains have not been recovered.

Kotey was sentenced in Virginia for his part in the murders of four US hostages, but relatives of other victims were invited to address the hearing.

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In her statement Bethany Haines said she had not slept properly since her father's abduction.

"I wake up during the night hearing my dad's screams as he is being tortured by these men," she said.

She said grief has transformed her from "a popular and bubbly person with lots of friends" to somebody who shuts herself off from the world.

Alexanda Kotey pleaded guilty in September to his role in the deaths of four Americans in Syria

She added: "No matter what you say this was not about religion. The only thing you can do that would help the victims would be to give up the location of the remains of our loved ones."

Mike Haines, from Dundee, now runs education charity Global Acts Of Unity in honour of his brother.

He addressed Kotey directly in court.

"For too long now you and your cohort have held power over me and my family," he said.

"I am no longer willing to let that happen.

"Today I can say to you, you no longer have power over me and mine. I forgive you."

Mike Haines told Kotey the killers no longer had a hold over him and he forgave them

David Haines' wife Dragana and another daughter Athea, who was just four when she lost her father, also delivered statements.

"Sometimes I get sad when I see my friends laughing and playing with their fathers," Athea told the court.

"It's not easy to be the girl in school whose dad was killed by terrorists."

Kotey pleaded guilty last September to eight charges relating to the US hostages.

Another member of the terror group, El Shafee Elsheikh, who is awaiting sentencing, was also brought to court so that relatives need not deliver their statements a second time.

The judge said Kotey seemed to have shown "some remorse" and had offered to meet the victims' families.

Kotey was captured by a Kurdish militia in Syria in January 2018 and handed over to US forces in Iraq, before being flown to the US in 2020 to face trial.

Another member of the terror cell, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a drone strike in Syria in 2015.

A fourth suspected member is in jail in Turkey after being convicted of being part of a terrorist organisation.