Jihadi John Mum 'That's my son cutting off a head'

KILLER: Mohammed Emwazi

The mother of Mohammed Emwazi knew instantly he was Jihadi John when he first appeared in front of the cameras in the murder of US journalist James Foley after recognising his voice, Kuwaiti investigators have been told.

Ghania Emwazi screamed: "That's my son," as the knife-wielding executioner made a speech in English while standing behindFoley moments before beheading him in August.

But she did not tell the authorities, it has emerged.

Foley, 40, was the first of at least five Western hostages of the Islamic State thought to have been executed at the hands of Emwazi, who grew up in London.

Western media revealed last week that British and US intelligence had established that the killer was Emwazi, causing shock in Kuwait, the Arab Gulf kingdom, where he was born.

But it emerged yesterday that Emwazi's parents had been aware of their son's activities for months after realising that his was the voice on the video, according to testimony given to Kuwaiti police by his father, Jassem, 51.

Police questioned Emwazi snr and one of his sons for most of the day on Sunday.

"The mother recognised the voice and she screamed: 'That is my son,' while he was talking before beheading the first American hostage," a source familiar with the Kuwaiti investigation said.

"When they played the video again, the father was sure it was his son."

Insiders described Emwazi as "emotional and upset at what had happened to his son" while talking to investigators.

"I am waiting day by day to hear about his death," he is said to have told his interrogators.

Emwazi - who now lives in Al-Oyoun, about 32km outside Kuwait City - said he last had contact with his son in 2013, shortly before he travelled to Turkey. He is said to have told his parents that he planned to move to Syria to "deliver aid".

Although Emwazi emigrated to the UK along with his parents and siblings in the 1990s, most members of the family are believed to have moved back to Kuwait.

Mohammed Emwazi worked as a trainee IT salesman in Kuwait City for three months in 2010.

He was a model employee during his probation period, and would have landed a permanent job if he had not failed to return from a trip to London in April 2010, the company's managing director said .

"His record was perfect. We had taken on five trainees in the previous three years and he was the best," said the managing director.

"He was very intelligent, polite, well-behaved, a good person. There was no evidence that he had jihadist leanings.

"He never talked about politics or religion. The only thing he ever said about Britain was that it was expensive and that he travelled to school by bicycle because transport was so expensive."