The family of Konstandinos Scurfield, the first man to die fighting IS, have told Notts TV that he ‘thought it was the only right thing to do’ to leave to fight IS.
The 25-year-old former Nottingham student, known as “Kosta”, left the Royal Marines to fight for the Kurds in Syria against Islamic State.
He died In Northern Syria on March 2 when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a missile.
Vasiliki Scurfield, Kosta’s mother said: “He could be pretty laidback about most things but when he saw an injustice and he wanted to right it there was nothing that could change his mind.
Video: Vasiliki Scurfield talks about how Kosta thought “long and hard” before leaving to fight IS
“I was terrified when he went out there – every day he was in my thoughts but all I can say is that was extreme relief that he went so quickly and not at the hands of IS.”
She said that she tried to talk him out of going for a year but that she is very proud of him.
“You bring your children up to be free thinkers, to be fair, to be democratic and to uphold British values so you can’t complain when they do that – even if their decisions are going to cause you pain.”
His sister, Georgianna Scurfield, a third year broadcast journalism student at Nottingham Trent University said: “We’ve been bombarded in this last year about the atrocities that ISIS are doing with the Charlie Hebdo and Lee Rigby – these things stirred him up to want to go.”
