Families of the hostages slaughtered in the desert by the vile ISIS Beatles torturer El-Shafee Elsheikh said their loved ones are "still alive" as they continue to "inspire" the world to defeat terrorism.
Elsheikh, a former British citizen, watched on from the dock as a Virginia judge handed him a life sentence today, which he will likely spend spend in a maximum-security lock-up known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies".
The Sudanese-born Londoner - who prosecutors say was the group's lead torturer - was involved in kidnapping, abusing and executing 27 hostages - including UK and US journalists and aid workers.
US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were beheaded in video clips that horrified the world, as were UK humanitarians David Haines and Alan Henning.
Another American aid worker who was kidnapped and held by the vicious fanatics, Kayla Mueller, was later sold to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and subjected to months of sexual abuse and rape before ISIS confirmed her death in 2015.
Speaking after Elsheikh was condemned today, Ms Mueller's dad told reporters: "This is just one more step in the process, Marsha [his wife] and I continue to search for Kayla.
We continue to search for the truth about what happened to her because we don't know for sure.
"We want to bring her home, we want to put her on American soil where she belongs."
Diane Foley, the mother of James Foley and director of a charity set up in his name, said the sentencing was a "hollow victory" as she called on the US Government to do more to free American captives abroad.
She added: "This anniversary of Jim's brutal beheading is the solemn and tragic marker that no family should have to endure."
The parents of Steven Sotloff, who didn't attend court, said in a joint statement they "hope that ins ome way Steven is looking down upon all of involved [US Government officials] and saying 'thank you'."
Mike Haines called his brother David a "hero" and said he should be remembered "for the selfless life he served" rather than "the barbaric acts you [Elsheikh} inflicted on him. "
"His courageous, charitable spirit stands in opposition to everything you represent, and it is those acts of compassion which will survive the test of time," he added.
Here are the stories of the lives and deaths of five of the ISIS Beatles' hostages:
David Haines
Dad-of-two David Haines, from East Yorkshire, was 44 when Mohammed Emwazi - also known as Jihadi John - took a short blade to his throat and cut his head off.
The veteran humanitarian, who had worked helping the needy in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East, was abducted at a camp for internally displaced people in 2013 and held for 18 months before his killing.
He was abducted by an armed gang who shot out the tyres of the vehicle he was travelling in before grabbing him and an Italian colleague.
The Foreign Office initially told his family to keep quiet about his abduction, but when he appeared kneeling beside Emwazi at the end of a video showing the decapitation of a US journalist in September 2014, his name was made public.
In the sickening clip, a disguised militant waves his knife and says: "We take this opportunity to warn those governments who've entered this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone."
Just one week later and David - gaunt from torture and starvation - took Sotloff's place in-front of the monster.
Like Sotloff, he read a scripted message and the clip ended with Emwazi slicing into his neck.
Speaking exclusively with the Sunday Mirror in June, his daughter Bethany revealed she would be sitting down with one of the men responsible for his killing, Alexanda Kotey - who was jailed for life in 2018.
She said: “I want to make him realise the devastating effects his actions have had on others, including his own 17-year-old daughter.
"It will say, ‘Just like my dad, you did not get to celebrate Father’s Day.
"I did not see my dad and you did not get to see your daughter. But for you that is by choice.
"You have the rest of the life to come to terms with that’.”
In 2017, David's brother Mike said all of the families suffered "excruciating pain" after the capture of Kotey and Elsheikh.
"The last three years have been a long, horrible waiting game," he added.
James Foley
Like the men murdered before him, footage of the horrific killing of American freelance journalist James Foley was also shared online.
In a four-and-a-half minute clip uploaded to YouTube, the war reporter kneels next to a masked ISIS fighter draped all in black as he reads a long scripted message about his regrets.
"I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope for freedom to see my family once again," he says.
Emwazi, who was killed by a US drone strike in 2016, then demanded the US stops its airstrikes on Syria and promised American aggression would "result in the bloodshed of your people".
Foley - who had freelanced for the GlobalPost and AFP among others - was covering the Syrian Civil War in 2012 when he was abducted by an organised gang while leaving an internet cafe.
By November 2013, his family and the US Government had been approached with a request for an £84million ransom.
Despite a number of attempts to bring him home, including a US special forces operation in Raqqa, Foley couldn't be saved.
A Danish photojournalist freed by the thugs relayed a message to Foley's family he had learned while living in the cell he had lived with Foley in a 17-man cell was released before his death, and had memorised a message to relay to his family.
Known as Foley's Final Message, it spoke of childhood memories, direct messages to each of his relatives, and detailed how he and the 17 cellmates passed the time in their desert prisons.
When asked how it felt to sit in the same room as Elsheikh during his trial, his mum Diane Foley told WBUR she thinks the life sentences handed to two of the Beatles - Elsheikh and Kotey - will be harder than the quick mercy of being killed in a drone strike, like Emwazi.
She said: "For them to have a life imprisonment, for them to reflect on what they actually did as human beings to other human beings.
"I think it's a very just sentence for them."
Steven Sotloff
American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff grew up in Miami, Florida, and as the grandson of Holocaust survivors, he was inspired to become a "voice for the voiceless", tributes said after his death.
The 31-year-old, a dual citizen, moved to Israel after falling in love during a birthright trip, but made efforts to disguise his religion - fearing it could make him a target in the countries he worked.
He had a longstanding interest in the Middle East, spoke Arabic, and worked all over the region reporting on the everyday lives of its people.
Before his abduction, he relayed fears to friends and colleagues that he'd been put on a watchlist, or "angered some of the rebels" by filming a bombed hospital in Aleppo.
It's been reported that he was abducted after being betrayed by his fixer - who was picked up by the jihadis at the same time and then later released.
Like the others, his capture was kept secret for a year as his family and the US tried to negotiate with the barbaric thugs.
Sotloff's capture lead to ISIS releasing a statement outlining rules for foreign journalists who wished to continue reporting in Syria, which included swearing allegiance to the so-called caliphate.
Sotloff appeared at the end of the Foley's execution video, which was entitled "A Message to America" - in which Emwazi tells US President Barack Obama that his fate "depends on your next decision".
Within days Washington stepped up its aerial bombardment of Syria and despite efforts at home, including a direct appeal from Sotloff's mum to ISIS leader Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi, he too was beheaded by Emwazi.
Speaking after his death, his family said: "Steve was no hero.
"Like all of us, he was a mere man who tried to find good concealed in a world of darkness.
"And if it did not exist, he tried to create it.
"He always sought to help those less privileged than himself, offering career services and precious contacts to newcomers in the region."
Kayla Mueller
Beatles victim Kayla Mueller was an aid worker and the name of the military operation that killed IS leader Al-Baghdadi, in her honour.
Like the other victims held by Elsheikh and his murderous cronies, Mueller's identity and abduction were kept secret while her distraught family attempted to negotiate with the warped militants.
The 26-year-old humanitarian, who had worked for a pro-Palestinian rights group among others, was kidnapped by fighters as she left a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria.
Giving evidence at Elsheikh's trial earlier this year, Mueller's mum explained how she begged for her daughter's life during the lengthy email negotiations with her captors - The Beatles terror cell.
In one of the emails, she wore a hijab as a sign of respect to beg ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi to spare her daughter's life.
In response, the callous foursome demanded a ransom of £4.2million or the release of female al-Qaeda militant, Aafia Siddiqui, who was serving a sentence in a federal US prison.
Unable to afford the ransom, they turned to Washington, where representatives of the Obama administration reassured the distraught family the militants would not harm a woman because of their religious beliefs.
She died in uncertain circumstances, but the US confirmed she had been killed while in custody in February 2015.
Among the emails sent to her family was one showing Mueller's bruised body under a black hijab.
During court proceedings, it also came to light that from around October 2014, the young woman was one of countless women sold into sexual slavery during the civil war.
But Mueller was sold to the IS leader Al-Baghdadi who would repeatedly rape her.
Mueller's family received an email from Islamic State fighters in February 2014, confirming her death in Syria.
Alan Henning
A taxi driver at home in Greater Manchester, dad-of-two Alan Henning took his skills to Syria to volunteer and help deliver food packages and money to the country's needy.
On December 26, 2013 he was targeted and abducted by masked gunmen, according to other people riding in his aid convoy.
During Haines' execution video the following September, Henning appeared at the end as Emwazi again blamed the West for his looming slaughter.
A video released at the start of October showed Henning meet the same fate as the men who went before him. During his pre-planned speech, he criticised the UK Government's decision to join a coalition of countries in a bombing campaign of Iraq and Syria.
Then-PM David Cameron spoke of ISIS' barbarity at the time, slamming them for taking the life of a man committed to helping those in need.
He said: "The brutal murder of Alan Henning by ISIL shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are.
"Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need.
"The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these ISIL terrorists."
Describing Henning as a kind and generous man, Cameron added: "He went with many Muslim friends out to do no more than simply help other people. His Muslim friends will be mourning him at this special time of Eid and the whole country is mourning with them."
The prime minister also ordered the British intelligence services to track down and kill Emwazi.
