Isis victim Alan Henning's daughter reveals she found out about his beheading on Instagram

Robin de Peyer13 November 2015

The teenage daughter of an aid volunteer who was beheaded by Islamic State terrorists found out about his murder after seeing photos of his body on social media.

Gruesome images of the murder of 47-year-old taxi driver Alan Henning were circulated online after he was executed in Syria.

Mr Henning had been held hostage by IS for 10 months after being kidnapped while travelling over the border from Turkey in December 2013 on a mission to help child victims of the conflict.

An horrific video showing him kneeling in an orange jump suit before being beheaded in the desert then appeared online last October - despite global appeals for his release.

Alan’s daughter, 18-year-old Lucy Henning, has now revealed she found out about her father’s murder after seeing gruesome pictures of the aftermath on Instagram.

Speaking on The Jeremy Kyle Show, she said: “I remember thinking we have had a few days, no news, it's looking good.

"We thought they might actually let him go.

Devastated: Alan Henning's daughter, Lucy, tells of her experience
ITV/PA

"Then I remember I was just laying in bed on Instagram and er, I just saw the final picture.

"It was the final picture, after the execution.

"You just kind of go through in your head, like whenever I used to get upset about it, I used to torture myself thinking, 'You don't know what he's going through,' so how can you sit there crying.

"So I used to just shout at myself, you can't cry, you can't be upset, think about what he's going through, think about what everybody else is going through."

Miss Henning said she was still trying to come to terms with her father's brutal murder at the hands of Islamist terrorists.

She added: "I try not to think about them. I think I'm still numb.

"I just try and get everyone to remember like, the kids that are still there, when people say, 'Oh you've lost your dad,' Yeah I know but there's kids there that's lost, lose all their family in one day and they are stuck there on their own."

Miss Henning said she is herself looking to do voluntary work in Africa and hopes to make a visit in memory of her father to the region.

"There's an academy that's been set up in my dad's name, the Alan Henning Academy, for Syrian children, just on the Turkey side, and it's schooling around 400 pupils at the moment, getting them the education they need, so I would like to go and visit," she added.

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