The daughter of a Scottish aid worker who was executed by ISIS has learned details about his time in captivity from a fellow hostage.
Five years after 'Jihadi John' beheaded Scots aid worker family are still waiting for his body to be found, 44, was snatched at gunpoint in Syria in 2013.
It happened hours after he had texted his daughter Bethany, 22, writing: “Hey there darling, hope you’re OK. I’m fine, working away in Turkey. Love, dad.”
It was the last message she received from her father, who was executed by terrorist Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, 18 months later.
Bethany was initially shielded from details about David’s ordeal by her mum. But she has now learned the full story of his imprisonment from his fellow aid worker Federico Motka.
She said: “Federico was the first person who was completely honest with me the whole time.
“I just wanted 100 per cent honesty, because up until then I had not been told the full truth.
“That conversation with him gave me a lot of closure. He was a straight-up guy – the same way my father was.
“When people tell me I’m a lot like my dad, I used to always think, ‘I don’t believe it’. When Federico says, ‘Oh, you’re so much like your dad’, it really does ring true.”
Security expert David was working for French charity the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (Acted) when he was abducted in March 2013.
The Scot and his Italian colleague Federico were pulled out of their car at gunpoint by masked men they later nicknamed “The Beatles”, because of their English accents.
Despite only having met four days earlier, David and Federico quickly became firm friends as they endured torture, beatings and sleep deprivation.
They were even forced to fight two other hostages, American journalist James Foley and British photographer John Cantlie, in a WWE-style “Royal Rumble”.
Federico said: “They had Dave and me in one corner, and John and James in the other, and they wanted us to fight.
“We obviously weren’t going to fight each other, but you kind of couldn’t not fight each other as there was potential for punishment.
“You have to understand we were like skeletons by then and every one of us fainted at some stage or another just from exhaustion.
“We weren’t exactly hurting each other. But our captors found it highly entertaining.”
At one stage, David and Federico were held with 17 other Western hostages, including US journalist Steven Sotloff and English aid worker Alan Henning.
Federico told Bethany how the group shared stories about their past and gave mini-lectures on their hobbies to pass the time.
They also made chess pieces from cheese cartons and olive pits.
He added: “We drew a lot of strength from each other.
“The games allowed us to escape inside a world that we created for ourselves, and it’s the same with the talks.
“James talked about literature, Steve talked about American sports, John spoke about motorcycles. You know, everyone had their own passion.
“These guys aren’t just people or friends, they’re brothers.
“Me and David had built up a particular relationship because we were caught together, because we went through everything together.”
James, Steven and Alan were beheaded, while John’s fate remains unknown.
Federico was freed after 14 months when the Italian government reportedly paid a £5million ransom.
The UK Government refused to pay a ransom and David was beheaded in September 2014.
The cold-blooded murder was filmed and posted online.
Bethany met Federico the next month, when a memorial service for her father was held in Perth. They have become close friends and remain in regular contact.
Bethany said: “Getting to know him has been a really great experience for me.”
Federico added: “I definitely see a lot of David in her – which is a wonderful thing, I guess… to know that part of David lives on.”
Bethany is considering travelling to Syria this summer in a bid to find David’s remains and bring them back to Scotland.
She said: “I miss my father. I miss walking by the river with him.
“All he wanted was to help people and he paid for it with his life.
“I decided that in the summer I would launch a campaign and appeal to anyone who may have information about my father’s remains – even if it meant going over to Syria to look for them myself.”
● The Hunt for Jihadi John is on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.
