British jihadists captured by Turkish authorities will be returned to the UK along with any evidence so they can be prosecuted.
Theresa May and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced they had reached an agreement to bring Britons that join ISIS to justice, following talks at Downing Street.
Turkey will return the suspects to the UK along with mobile phones, any media they have in their possession and all transcripts with interviews, the two leaders announced during a joint press conference.
Previously ministers advocated Britons who join ISIS deserve to be killed, but Mrs May’s move appears to represent a shift in the Government’s approach.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the two captured members of the “Beatles” group should never set foot in the UK “ever again”.
This change in tune comes as Mrs May is under pressure by the US and its allies to take more responsibility for those who leave the UK to try and join ISIS.
Mrs May said: “As Daesh is defeated militarily we are aware of the risk of foreign fighters dispersing from Syria and Iraq.
“To counter this we have today agreed to take concrete steps toward measures that will formalise our information sharing.
“Our intent is to agree when Turkish authorities return a British citizen suspected of terrorist offences to Britain, they will do so with vital evidence such as media taken from mobile devices and transcripts of interviews. This will support our efforts to seek convictions of those who seek to do us harm.”