'Jihadi John' unmasked as a stellar IT salesman

The Islamic State executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’ has been unmasked as a computer programmer who had started a promising career in IT sales.

Mohammed Emwazi, the Briton accused of apparently beheading six hostages in Syria, was “the best employee we ever had,” according to a Kuwati IT firm that hired him as a salesman.

Speaking anonymously, the firm told The Guardian that the then 21-year-old earned 300 Kuwaiti dinars a month (£658), with 50 dinars expenses, plus 5% commission on all orders.

He was described by the IT firm’s boss as calm, decent, “very good with people” and as having glided through his probationary period, which was for a reported three months.

But in light of the low wage, and his degree in information systems and business management from London’s Westminster University, the boss was “puzzled”.

In particular, “why would he come here?” the Kuwaiti employer asked the newspaper. “He faced some problems, maybe family, social or psychological, I didn’t really ask…

“He wanted a good job [in London] and he wanted to get married, but he couldn’t and it made a problem for him.”

Asked how the techie who convinced people to buy IT products became the world’s most notorious butcher, and now one of its most wanted men, his former employer was at a loss.

“I have no answers for this,” his old boss replied. “He wasn’t sociable. He was always earnest. He didn’t smile. But he wasn’t bad.”