The parents of Jihadi Jack have called for British authorities to bring him home from his 'rather extensive gap year' in Syria.

John Letts and Sally Lane said their son Jack Letts had escaped ISIS territory and was being held in protective custody in the Kurdish-controlled part of north Syria.

They told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire that they had hoped the foreign office would intervene once he was out of ISIS territory.

Former Cherwell School pupil Jack Letts converted to Islam and travelled to the country in 2014, aged 18, where he is suspected of joining Islamic State (IS).

His father, John Letts, said: "It's terrifying, we have been living with this for three years.

"Every day you are waiting for a phone call saying your son has been killed."

The parents said they had been speaking to their son every other day but have not heard from him for two weeks, leaving them 'worried'.

The pair are facing trial accused of sending hundreds of pounds to their son between September 2015 and January last year.

When asked if Jack had shown any remorse for what his parents have been put through, his father called him a '21-year-old quite confident, arrogant, pig-headed lad, of which there are many'.

He called for his son to come back home and account for himself and his actions.

He said: "I can't account for all of Jack's movements for three years, we had no idea he was going there.

"He was 18 when he went out there, I made a lot of stupid mistakes when I was 18 and I think we all do.

"It's kind of like a rather extensive gap year."

His mother Sally Lane said she thought some of the messages he had sent may have been 'forced' in order to save his life.

The pair added his account of events 'made sense' and they didn't believe he had fought for ISIS.