THE FATHER of two Jihadis killed in Syria has been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of attempting to intimidate his wife in a court case against him.

Abubaker Deghayes, 50, formerly of Arundel Drive East, Saltdean, had denied the charge but was found guilty of attempted witness intimidation against her and her brother in November 2017, following a trial at Blackfriars Crown Court in London in April .

Deghayes was sentenced at the court for the charge shortly after he was found not guilty of assaulting his wife at a flat in Brighton on May 2017, following a three-day retrial on Thursday.

The court heard that Deghayes told his wife’s brother to tell her to drop the case against him for assaulting her and not to go to court, despite him having court bail conditions not to contact his victim directly or indirectly.

He said she could leave the country and threatened to have her shot if she did not comply.

Detective Constable Jenny Pietersen said: “Sussex Police and the criminal justice system takes any interference with witnesses in court cases seriously and I believe the sentence Deghayes was given reflects this.”

Deghayes’s son Abdullah, 18, was killed fighting in Syria in 2016 and his younger brother Jaffar, 17, was killed in October 2014 while trying to overthrow dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s government.

Another son, Amer, is believed to be alive in Syria.