Ex-classmates at the school in west London said it was hard to believe the football-loving child had become the notorious terrorist
Jihadi John, unmasked as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi today in America, was the only Muslim pupil in his class at St Mary Magdalene Church of England Primary School.
Ex-classmates at the school in Maida Vale, west London, said it was hard to believe the quiet lad they had known from their schooldays had become the notorious terrorist.
The football-loving computer programmer, brought up in an affluent area of the capital, appeared in the sickening videos showing the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David and Alan Henning, Americans Peter Kassig and James Foley.
He may also have been the murderer of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
It was reported last night that Emwazi, who joined the school in 1995, had once got into a fight with a fellow pupil but he was described as usually keeping himself to himself and was dedicated to his religion.
Entries, appearing to be from a school yearbook, showed the youngster like S Club 7 and wanted to be a footballer when he grew up.
One anonymous ex-classmate said: “It was a Church of England school and he was the only Muslim in our class. One time we had an RE lesson and he got up and talked about his religion.
“He wrote Arabic on the board to show us what it looked like and how it went in the other direction. He showed us a religious text and spoke about what his religion was about.
“That was when we were eight or nine. He mentioned fasting. His English wasn’t very good throughout primary school. He could only say a few words at first – like his name and where he was from.
“He played football every lunchtime and at the after-school football club. Through football, he learned different words and expressions. Like all the guys, he always wanted to be the striker.
“He wasn’t so good in school, he was the bottom half of the class, but he was one of the sporty guys. He was popular.”
It was reported that Emwazi wrote Arabic on the board during an RE lesson to show his fellow-pupils what the language looked like written down.
He was described as a ‘good kid’ who appeared in school plays and became football-mad during the 1998 World Cup.
Another ex-pupil, who asked not to be named, said: “I can’t believe he has become like this. I obviously completely abhor what he’s doing and what he stands for now. He has shocked the whole world.
“I saw the name Mohammed Emwazi and I realised I knew him from primary school.
“I called my old friends from school and we were all completely shocked. He just seemed like a normal kid and there was no indication of him becoming the person that he is now.”
Emwazi left the school in 1999 and went to Quentin Kynaston Community Academy in St John’s Wood, north west London, also attended by singer Tulisa.
Emwazi, son of a taxi driver called Jasem, was born in Kuwait but move to England aged six and lived in Little Venice, West London.
A friend of the family said: “He was just a normal boy, a bit temperamental as a teenager but I thought it was just puberty. He loved football and spending time with his friends.
“I am shocked. We knew his family were distressed because they didn’t know where he was. They are a lovely family, they are absolutely amazing.
"Mohammed’s father is one of the most good natured men in the world. His mum is very nice too. I am completely overwhelmed. At some point I remember his dad telling me he had become more religious but I didn’t think much about it.
"He was very caring. He was very quick to defend people close to him if he thought they had been hurt.
“I don’t care about him if that is what he has been doing. I don’t care what happens to him. But I feel very bad for the family.”
A former neighbour in Little Venice added: “They kept themselves to themselves, and left about seven years ago. My boys used to play football with him. He was tall and had a head of curly brown hair.”
Emwazi’s family later moved to a two-storey maisonette in Queen’s Park, North London. As two policemen stood guard at the property yesterday, a neighbour claimed he heard screaming rows coming from the home.
Another added: “Mohammed wasn’t what I could call a fundamental Muslim. He wore smart trendy Western clothes and on the surface there was no sign of radicalisation whatsoever.
“I’m staggered he has been identified as Jihadi John.”
Emwazi, who has one brother and two sisters and was said to worship at Greenwich Mosque in South London, spent late 2009 and early 2010 in Kuwait as a computer programmer. He returned home to visit in May and July 2010.
The daughter of his victim David Haines insisted the Islamic State monster should pay with his life for the sadistic beheadings of innocent hostages.
Bethany Haines spoke as it was revealed killer Emwazi was spoken to at least three times by British security agents who even allegedly tried to recruit the university graduate before he joined the terror group in war-torn Syria.
But experts branded claims the 26-year-old – who fled his home in London in 2012 while on a security watch list – was turned into a cold-blooded killer because of MI5’s approaches as “nonsense”.
Grieving Bethany said of Emwazi: “I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there’s a bullet between his eyes. Once he’s captured I think there will be a lot of happy faces.”
Below: Jihadi John victims
The killer was identified by the Washington Post. Scotland Yard refused to confirm it was him, but US sources said he is Jihadi John.
Emwazi, believed to have been radicalised by hate preacher Bilal al-Berjawi, was stopped from going on a planned safari in Tanzania following his graduation from the University of Westminster in 2009 with a degree in computer sciences.
He told friends he was then deported from Africa to Amsterdam where an MI5 officer accused him of trying to reach Somalia.
Emwazi described the incident as the “ordeal that completely changed my life”.
He then decided to move back to Kuwait where he had a job and bride-to-be waiting – but was prevented from travelling by UK spooks.
The fact that he later managed to slip out of Britain and flee to Syria will spark alarm among MI5 chiefs. Bosses could now be called to give evidence to Parliament about the incident.
Liberal Democrat Sir Menzies Campbell, who sits on the Intelligence and Security Committee, said there were “echoes” of the case involving Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo.
The maniac was on the radar when he and Michael Adebowale hacked the soldier to death outside his barracks at Woolwich, South East London in May 2013.
Human rights group Cage blamed MI5 for turning Emwazi to Islamic State by putting pressure on him to join them as a spy.
The organisation claimed that when he refused, an agent told him: “You’re going to have a lot of trouble. You’re going to be known. You’re going to be followed. Life will be harder for you.”
But terror expert Shiraz Maher dismissed the allegation as “pathetic”.
The senior research fellow from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London said: “I think this is an attempt to deflect attention from Jihadi John. They’re trying to lay the blame for this at the feet of the British government.
“This is an individual who made his own decisions, and intended to go to Syria, and carried out these brutal beheadings of our own and American citizens.
“This narrative of him being driven to it by the British Government and the Secret Services is a side show.
“He has the rather typical profile of those travelling to Syria – he is middle class, educated and from a relatively affluent background. That is the overwhelming profile and typical of those going from Britain to fight.
“The idea that this individual was picked off the street and radicalised because he was Muslim is incorrect and an irresponsible line to push.
"But it is unlikely he will ever face the criminal justice system. They are there to fight for their cause, the majority are dying for their cause. That is the most likely outcome.”
Jihadi John identity is known: How spooks will trap evil butcher Mohammed Emwazi
And a former British intelligence officer tonight defended MI5’s recruitment bid. The ex-spy said: “Frequently MI5 officers will opt to ‘disrupt’ an operation by intercepting the potential terrorist before their plot develops.
“It could be by getting alongside them at an airport and confronting them, knowing their friends can see them being talked to.
“This serves many purposes but the main one is to freak them out, let them know they’re being watched. Sometimes that is enough.”
Cage director Asim Qureshi was in contact with the killer before he left for Syria. In emails, Emwazi told him he felt like a “prisoner” in London.
Mr Qureshi said: “He was such a beautiful young man, really. It’s hard to imagine the trajectory, but it is not a trajectory that’s unfamiliar with us.”
Al-Berjawi, the preacher alleged to have radicalised Emwazi, flew in and out of London to terrorism hot spots over a period of three years.
He was allowed through Border Control at least five times between 2006-2009 as he networked with African terror cells. Al-Berjawi was killed in a drone strike in Somalia three years ago.
Meanwhile Islamic State thugs today destroyed ancient monuments and artefacts dating back to 7BC in Mosul, northern Iraq, with sledgehammers.