ISIS Beatle dubbed 'Jihadi George' disappears from US prison following life sentence for torture and murder
12 January 2023, 08:48 | Updated: 12 January 2023, 09:24
A British Islamic State fighter dubbed one of the 'ISIS Beatles' has vanished from custody in the US after being sentenced to life behind bars for torture and murder.
Alexanda Kotey, 39, labelled 'Jihadi George', no longer appears on US custody records at Pennsylvania's high-security Canaan prison.
Sentenced to life in prison in August after pleading guilty to eight counts of abduction, torture and the beheading of western hostages, his name has now seemingly been scrubbed from Federal Bureau of Prisons records.
The charges relate to his actions in Syria between 2012 and 2015.
Kotey was infamously linked to three other Brits fighting for the terrorist group, namely Aine Davis, El Shafee Elsheikh and Mohammed Emwazi - dubbed 'Jihadi John'.
When searched, Kotey's name is now listed as 'not in BOP custody'.
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Kotey accepted a plea deal in return for a more lenient sentence which notably included 'cooperation requirements'.
The plea deal also meant he was allowed to serve out his time in Canaan, as opposed to ADX Florence prison in Colorado - nicknamed the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'.
It remains unknown why Kotey has seemingly vanished from records.
Speaking with the The Scottish Daily Record, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy confirmed "Alexanda Amon Kotey is not currently in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons."
He noted "several reasons" why an inmate could be listed as such but did not elaborate on Kotey's particular case.
"Inmates who were previously in BOP custody and who have not completed their sentence may be outside BOP custody for a period of time for court hearings, medical treatment or for other reasons," Mr Murphy said.
Kotey and the group took more than two dozen Westerners hostage during their stint fighting for ISIS in Syria.
Their 'Beatles' nickname came about due to their distinctive English accents.
Their stint in Syria nearly a decade ago saw the group don masks for the beheadings, parading hostages about in front of the camera in orange jumpsuits.
One such victim was 44-year-old British aid worker David Haines, who was taken hostage and later beheaded on camera by the group in Syria in 2013.
Kotey was eventually captured by Kurdish militia in Syria in 2018, before being handed of to American forces in 2020 and deported to America for trial.
His subsequent trial related to the killings of four American hostages, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, alongside aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
The group are believed to have abducted and killed 27 people.
Speaking to The Daily Record, Haines' daughter, 24-year-old Bethany Haines, said she fears the 'Beatle' is "assisting authorities".
"In the past he has been traceable, as we have access to data via the US victim notification scheme, and we at least had the reassurance that he was in a high security facility," she said.
"I don't want to think that he has managed to negotiate his way into any kind of easy treatment on the basis of him assisting authorities or anything else."
