Spy chiefs are just hours from unmasking James Foley’s killer after scouring a list of Brit fanatics thought to be fighting in Syria.
MI5 is hunting the US journalist’s masked executioner – known as Jihadi John – and has narrowed down a shortlist of suspects to “a few names”.
The British killer, who has a London accent, was shown beheading James, 40, in a gruesome video released by the Islamic State militant group last week.
Today there were reports intelligence experts already knew who he was.
UK Ambassador to the US, Sir Peter Westmacott, said “we are close” and added: “We’re putting a lot into it.”
Another security source said: “A shortlist of around 20 names of British-born IS fighters has been narrowed down to the most likely candidate.
"There is a very good chance that this individual is the man the media are calling John.”
Elite members of the SAS are now preparing to snatch him out of Syria in a top-secret mission.
It came amid warnings IS could be plotting a “spectacular” attack on Britain when the world’s leaders meet at the Nato summit in Cardiff next month.
Former Intelligence and Security Committee chairman Kim Howells said there was “no question” jihadists would be planning something.
He said: “Like their predecessors al-Qaeda they like mounting spectaculars.
"This gathering of heads of state is one of the biggest of any kind of event you can imagine, especially with the American president being there.
“It will be a target, there is no question about it, that is why the security measures taken are so intense.”
As the net began to close on James’ killer, experts were using sophisticated voice-recognition technology to identify him.
He was heard spewing threats at the West in the beheading video and is said to be part of a group of IS killers dubbed The Beatles because of their British accents.
One key suspect is Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, who left his family’s £1million home in West London last year.
He recently put a picture online of himself holding a severed head.
Others on the investigators’ radar include student Amer Deghayes, 20, of Brighton, who flew out to Syria in October and two Cardiff-born brothers Aseel and Nasser Muthana, aged 17 and 20.
Special forces have launched hi-tech operations in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to capture British fighters and establish links to Jihadi John.
Alongside Kurdish units fighting IS, they have separated into four-man teams.
Their intelligence is being fed to a special SAS snatch squad set up to capture the jihadists and release the remaining hostages.
It was today revealed £24million had been paid to IS captors in exchange for the release of 11 hostages last year.
Payments were made by at least four European countries, which goes against the American and UK policy of not negotiating with terrorists.
From the start of victim James’ kidnap ordeal, the Beatles militants were said to have been “interested in money” and the week before he was beheaded they demanded an £80million ransom.
The group is feared to have been involved in the seizure of several Westerners and bragged to prisoners about how much cash they were making from it.
Their leader was not said to be James’ left-handed murderer John, but a man called George, who uses the name Abu Muhareb – or fighter in Arabic.
Up to 24 American counter-terror officers are due to arrive in London and the Midlands amid growing concerns from the US that Britain is not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadists.
They will liaise with the Metropolitan Police’s secretive SO15 counter-terrorism command and MI5 to carry out background work on UK-based militants.
But the plan is also to have US officers “attached” to regional counter-terrorism units in cities such as Birmingham.
Today another American journalist who was kidnapped entering Syria almost two years ago was freed.
Peter Theo Curtis, of Boston, Massachusetts, was handed over to UN representatives, Al Jazeera reported.
Meanwhile, a mass of remembrance was being held in the United States for tragic photo journalist James.
US President Barack Obama called him a hero for telling the stories of oppressed people in war-torn regions such as Syria and Libya.
The mass today was set in James’ home town church, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, in Rochester, New Hampshire.
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