Passionate aid worker David Haines spent 15 years helping people in need

The 44-year-old father-of-two was beheaded last September, the barbaric final moments of his life being broadcast around the world by his captors.

Murdered Yorkshire aid worker David Haines ‘did not want ransom paid’

Mr Haines had been taken hostage in March 2013 while working for international relief agency Acted. It was his first humanitarian mission to Syria, having devoted the previous 15 years to aid work in other parts of the world.

Mr Haines was born into a strong military family in Yorkshire but was raised in Perth, Scotland. He followed his older brother, four years his senior, into the RAF and, like him, trained as an aircraft engineer.

However, after leaving the forces, he became bored with “ordinary” 9-5 jobs and set about helping others.

He began humanitarian work in 1999, and would regularly return to the UK “glowing” from the foreign assignments he described as “missions”.

Mr Haines accepted what was to become his final tasking, to Syria, in 2013.

Ten days in, he was captured alongside his colleague, Italian Federico Motka. The pair had been been helping refugees in a camp near the Turkish border when he was snatched by militants.

But while Mr Motka was released, Mr Haines remained captive.

All the while, his family were sworn to secrecy for operational reasons, but privately feared the worst. It was something they were forced to keep hidden for 18 months.

He left behind a wife and two daughters.