London Evening Standard/London
A man from west London is feared to have left Britain to join Islamic State after lying to his parents that he was going on an IT course.
The 22-year-old disappeared from his home in Wembley on Monday, and is believed to have reached Syria.
He left home at about 6am, saying he was going to attend a course in east London. His distraught family, who do not want to be identified, raised the alarm when he failed to return.
Police officers who examined the man’s laptop traced his movements and found he had taken a flight to Paris and then travelled on to Istanbul.
Efforts were still being made yesterday in Turkey to trace him but there were fears he had already crossed into Syria.
His parents said they had grown concerned after seeing him spend more and more time alone on the internet.
It is not clear if they raised the issue with the police. But their MP Barry Gardiner criticised the authorities for failing to respond quickly enough.
The Brent North MP said: “The family believe he has gone to Syria to join in the conflict against the Assad regime. They said he had been spending rather too much time on the internet.
“When it became clear he had lied about where he was going on Monday, they came to the conclusion that this (fleeing abroad) is what he had done.”
It is not clear which militant group the man may be intending to fight with, but the authorities fear it is IS.
Gardiner said the family was in “great distress”. He claimed that police, after being notified at 11pm on Monday, took 24 hours to do little more than take the man’s laptop for examination.
A series of ministers had told him it would be “inappropriate” for them to intervene, Gardiner said. He called for a single system to enable MPs to spark a “global response”, notifying governments that someone has gone missing.
The Met said it was investigating the disappearance, adding: “The 22-year-old was reported missing on Tuesday.” Officials say they reacted quickly but it appears the man may have reached Istanbul when he was reported missing to police in Kilburn.
The Home Office said: “We take the risk of people travelling to Syria or Iraq very seriously. Anyone concerned that a family member or friend may have travelled to these countries should contact the police.
“All decisions on action to take following reports of missing people are made by the police on a case-by-case basis. This may include alerting border authorities and other partners in the UK and abroad.”
