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David Haines' widow brands Isis 'cowards' and reveals she hasn't told her four-year-old daughter what happened to her father

David Haines was kidnapped by the Isis in March 2013

Lamiat Sabin
Sunday 07 December 2014 05:49 EST
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Isis militants threatened to kill Mr Henning in a video showing the murder of David Haines (pictured)
Isis militants threatened to kill Mr Henning in a video showing the murder of David Haines (pictured) (Facebook)

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The wife of beheaded British aid worker David Haines branded Isis as “cowards” while saying that she has yet to tell their four-year-old daughter about what really happened to her father.

Dragana Haines told Sky News that she still does not know how to break the news to daughter Athea with the real reasons why Mr Haines will not be returning home after he was murdered by Isis, also known as the Islamic State.

She tells her that he went to help people in need and it will only be the two of them in the family from now on.

She said: "I didn't tell her what happened but I told her that it's us girls alone now and that we have to help each other, we have to support each other, because there is no one else to help us.

"I'm trying to make her understand that dad is not coming back."

Mr Haines also had 17-year-old daughter Bethany from his previous marriage.

Mrs Haines told Sky News in her first television interview at their home in Sisak, Croatia: “I was trying to go to my room [to talk on the phone] so [my daughter] wouldn't see me crying, but of course she heard me.

“After a few times she realised that as soon as I start speaking in English to someone on the phone, that it was Uncle Mike (Mr Haines' brother), she would run and bring me handkerchiefs and say 'Mum don't be sad, please don't cry', because even she understood that something wrong was going on.”

Mr Haines, 44, appeared dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit on a video released by Isis in June and they warned that he would be next to be killed in Syria after he was kidnapped in March last year while working for French charity Acted.

He and an Italian colleague, Frederico Motka, were taken from refugee camps near town Atmeh and the other man was later released.

Mr Haines' career included joining the RAF as an aircraft engineer and working for a rail company before being in charge of security and military intelligence, according to his LinkedIn profile.

His brother had called Dragana in September to break the news of his death after another video was released depicting an act of beheading.

She said of Isis: “They consider themselves brave, but that's not bravery.

“It's a cowardly act to behead someone who has his hands tied behind his back, who is kneeling.

“You are a coward if you are going to behead someone who is helpless. You're not even a human being. You must be a monster to do something like that.”

Four US hostages have also been killed by Isis after appearing in video clips; James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Alan Henning and Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, as well as others from Syria and Kurdistan.

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