The fanatic jihadist with the British accent who beheaded U.S. journalist James Foley drew public attention early on due to his calm and controlled manner of speaking and the ruthlessly cold and calculated way in which he slit his unfortunate victim’s throat. A former hostage said he believed that the Islamic State terrorist was a Londoner he had known as “John”.

Intelligence agents in the U.K. and U.S. are urgently seeking information about this man who is reportedly a leader of a group of British jihadis that fellow jihadis have nicknamed “The Beatles” because of their nationality.

The British-born militant is described as a well-educated, intelligent and highly committed member of the Islamic State. British Security Services are using advanced voice recognition techniquest to try and identify the brutal killer who uses his left hand, wears Timberland boots and speaks with what appears to be an East London accent.

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, believes that more than 500 Britons are known to have traveled to Syria and Iraq, and 250 of these returned. The beheading of Foley at the hands of a militant from the U.K. suggests that there are a number of British-born jihadists climbing within the ranks of the Islamic State.

U.K. citizen, Waheed Majeed, had carried out a suicide bombing in Syria earlier in the year.

The British police have the names of hundreds of extremists fighting with insurgent groups in the region and they have become very brazen. In fact, following the horrific beheading there was a flood of sickening messages on social networks. When they weren’t mercilessly joking they were telling of their own desires to commit atrocities of the same barbaric nature.