EXCLUSIVE: Jihadi John exposed by web error: Killer downloaded software using student ID
SPIES worked out Jihadi John’s identity after he used his student number to download discounted software in Syria, the Sunday Express can reveal.
Mohammed Emwazi, 26, now the world’s most-wanted man after beheading British and US hostages, had been on a shortlist of suspects.
But the crucial piece of the jigsaw fell into place when when Emwazi used a laptop in Syria to download web design software which was being offered on a free trial.
Instead of buying the software with a credit card, he used a student code from London’s Westminster University when he studied computer technology.
The number contained unique information which gave his date of birth, what he studied, and where, and information on his student loan.
Sources revealed the download singled him out as being in the right place and time to be the killer.
The information was passed back through the intelligence chain and further matches showed he was the murderer.
An intelligence source said last night: "In today’s electronic age of social media and technology, we chase the digital footprint before we chase the person.
“Anyone who has a credit card, a Facebook page or a national insurance number has a digital footprint.
“The same goes for a student number, these records are unique to that person.
"We are forced to work within a strictly managed set of protocols, while those who would wish to do us harm operate freely.”
Jihadi John rose to notoriety after he first appeared in a video posted online last August, in which American journalist James Foley was beheaded.
He reappeared in videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning and US aid worker Peter Kassig.
We chase the digital footprint before we chase the person
Even though Emwazi has been on the security service’s radar for months, he has so far avoided drone missile attacks and aircraft raids on secret Islamic State locations.
He constantly sleeps in different places and is well protected by other IS killers.
Now that his cover has been blown, he has become a high-profile target and intelligence chiefs hope this will encourage traitors to turn him in.
Coalition forces are using psychological warfare tactics to flush him out.
Special forces are broadcasting radio and television appeals for information on him and others in the IS high command, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
