The widow of murdered aid worker David Haines said there was “no closure” for her family and “no forgiveness” for a UK member of Isis after he was jailed for life for killing her husband.
El Shafee Elsheikh was sentenced on Friday in the US for his role in the hostage-taking outrage after being convicted by a jury in April this year.
The 33-year-old extremist was convicted on eight charges after a trial as the jury concluded that he was part of an Islamic State cell, nicknamed “The Beatles” because of their British accents.
David (44), from Perth, was beheaded in September 2014 after he was kidnapped from a Syrian aid camp in 2013.
His widow, Dragana Prodanovic Haines (52) who is raising the couple’s daughter Athea (12) welcomed the sentence.
She said: “Being sentenced to life in prison is justice but it is not going to change anything or make a difference to our lives.
“For me, there is no forgiveness or forgetting what he did.
“Nothing can fill in the gap in our lives. There is no closure. We will never have any closure until we know where David’s remains are and he is brought home.
“We are hoping that one day David’s remains will be found and then we can have closure.
“They (the terrorists) are locked away now and they should be forgotten. I hope the rest of their lives will be spent in prison thinking about what they did, all they have taken and what they have destroyed. Not just the people they have killed but us, the families who are left. I hope they have some conscience.”
In April, Dragana, David’s brother Mike and daughters Bethany and Athea, read victim impact statements in front of Elsheikh and his co-defendant Alexanda Amon Kotey (38) who was also sentenced to life in prison.
Dragana, who lives in Croatia, continued: “David will always be alive in us. He worked near to where we live so everyone remembers him. He is a legend here and everyone who knew him has only the best words to say.”
Mike Haines welcomed the sentence handed out to Elsheikh for the murder of his brother but he also offered the killer his forgiveness.
He said: “The judgment provides another victory for humanity over the hateful ideologies of extremism. I offer Elsheikh my forgiveness and I sincerely hope he uses his time in incarceration to recognise the pain he has inflicted.
“Only through tolerance, compassion and understanding can we reject hatred that seeks to divide us.”
He 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”.
Mike added: “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.”
Isis was involved in the abduction, torture and beheading of several western and Japanese hostages, including journalists and aid workers. Elsheikh’s convictions in court centre on the deaths of US hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
But US and British authorities say the Isis cell was responsible for 27 killings, which also included David and fellow Brit Alan Henning. David’s remains have never been found.
Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were beheaded, with the executions filmed and circulated online.
Before Mueller was killed, she was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Earlier this year, a second member of the Isis cell, Alexanda Kotey, was handed a lifetime prison sentence in the US. He pled guilty to the murders of Foley, Sotloff, Mueller and Kassig.
Mohammed Emwazi, believed to be the ring leader and known as Jihadi John, died in a US-UK missile strike in Syria in 2015.
The fourth member, Aine Davis, was jailed in Turkey before being deported to the UK last week. He is in custody and was arrested in relation to offences under the Terrorism Act, 2000.
