The United Kingdom is ‘very close’ to identifying the jihadist believed to have beheaded American journalist James Foley, Britain’s ambassador to Washington revealed yesterday, as spies use a ‘vein matching’ technique in their bid to find the Briton.
The revelation was made, however, as doubts were cast on the role of the UK suspect, after experts claimed the video could in fact have been staged with the execution taking place after the filming stopped.
It has been suggested the English-speaking Briton in the video may have been used for propaganda purposes and may not have been the actual killer.
An expert in visual forensics commissioned by The Times to look at the footage said he believed the footage was ‘staged’ while the actual execution ‘may have happened after the camera was stopped.”
While no one has disputed that Mr Foley was beheaded, questions have been raised over the role of the English-speaking suspect in the video.
Aymenn al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum think-tank, said ‘they show it’s an English-speaking guy because he is English-speaking for an English-speaking audience.”
He told The Times: “I think it sends a powerful message that it doesn’t matter where you are from, your allegiance is with the Islamic State and one day the Islamic State will encompass the entire world in terms of their thinking.’
As intelligence agencies closed in on the fanatic known as ‘Jihadi John’, Sir Peter Westmacott said: ‘We’re not in a position to say exactly who this is but I think we’re close.”
European hostages freed earlier this year identified the Briton as one of three jailers they dubbed ‘The Beatles.’
...Video analysis claims it was filmed south of Syrian city of Raqqa
On a patch of hilly, barren scrubland in north-east Syria, kidnapped US journalist James Foley was beheaded by an Islamic State jihadist with an English accent.
A chilling video, broadcast online, offered virtually no clues as to the location except that the extremist was based in the town of Raqqa.
In an extraordinary piece of detective work, 35-year-old Eliot Higgins, who has investigated the Syrian conflict, may have pinpointed the spot where the reporter was killed.
But Mr Higgins, who blogs under the name Brown Moses, is not working for the security services… he is a Leicester-based citizen journalist who used just satellite imagery, traditional maps and evidence from the video to narrow down the place of death.
Even though Mr Higgins admits there is ‘not a great deal of information’ in the video he points out some information can be gleaned.
The killing was filmed in what appears to be a hilly area, with barely any plants or grass, and in the distance there is green plain below the hills.
Shadows on the video suggest it was filmed in the morning, with the camera pointing northwards suggesting the location was in the uplands south of Raqqa.
Studying the video, the blogger surmised it was filmed on an area of raised ground, close to a dusty track and leading to a break in the rocks, to the left of Mr Foley as the camera looks at him. There is another small break in the rocks to the right.
In the distance there appear to be no obvious structures beyond what may be trees or small individual buildings.
Satellite map images appear to support Mr Higgins: they show a track entrance to the area, with a rock outcrop be partly covering the entryway, as it does in the video.
Based on that information it appears that this is the approximate positions of what is seen in the video.
The blogger also notes that when the camera films from a certain location on the outcrop, trees are visible in the distance - a possible match to the trees on the road running to the north-west. No buildings can be seen.
Mr Higgins said: ‘Having reviewed locations along the hills south of Raqqa this appears to be the only location which fits what little information is available in the video.
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