The three young girls who have purportedly fled to Syria

I'm not sure some of these mothers are as downtrodden and meek as they would have us believe.

It sounds as if the young woman from Glasgow is used by IS as a recruiting agent for teenage girls. I wonder what line she spins them. She is probably still spreading her lies over the Internet. She must have a chat room or something of the sort which should not be too hard to find, unless there are people in IS with exceptional expertise. And evidently this is a strong possibility.

Well I guess that somehow, against all their intelligence, they think that god wants them to do it and they will go to paradise. Not sure I have any desire to go there if some of these villains will be there.

Faith is a peculiar and dangerous thing. Defies logic.

Exactly petra there is a huge difference between being silly and careless to walking fully aware into the lair of pure evil. These girls know exactly what ISIS are capable of. For goodness sake they have seen it with their own eyes and yet they STILL wanted to go.

I see what some of you are saying about getting into cars with men that you have never met.
If that car had had a poster across the windscreen saying "terrorist, rapist, on board, fancy a ride girls" would you still have got in?

If the girls have been groomed, I am finding it hard to condemn them for that.

grannyactivist. So sad what happened to your family.

Definitely gillybob, there should be no excuses for either.

What grounds would passport control in the UK have for preventing these girls from boarding their flight to Turkey? Clearly, their names were not on a watch list and they appeared to have had valid passports and tickets. (The one who is said to have used her slightly older sister's passport may have had a close family resemblance but, if not, we all know how sub-human we look in passport photographs.) Security at an airport – where there are thousands of passengers daily – is important but it cannot override the law. As there were no grounds for suspicion, even under the wide-ranging Prevention of Terrorism Act, stopping them from travelling to a popular holiday destination would have been illegal.

The girls would have to be very stupid if they completed an immigration form in Turkey, or anywhere else, giving "jihad" as a reason for travelling. Holiday would be the most likely and acceptable reason. You never used to have to give an address where you would be staying, especially as many tourists travel around, but things may have changed. If they have, no doubt their contacts would have supplied a suitable address.

And something very seriously wrong with any young girl who wants to go out and join them Faye .

When you enter a foreign country aren't you asked the reason for your trip? Seems odd that people are being allowed to go off and fight with the enemy and in this day and age governments haven't got off their backsides and stopped them. I can't understand why isn't there passport control.

Apparently many jihadists returning to their home countries are traumatised and others have become more hard lined. They should all be jailed if they dare to return. Why is there nothing done to deter these fanatics?

It's all very well saying we all made mistakes when we were young, but did anyone want to join a terrorist group that chop off people's heads, rape and kill, send young children with bombs strapped to them to explode amongst other innocent people, (the latest bomber was a seven year old girl) or put people in cages and burn them alive. Seriously there has to be something seriously wrong with these people.

I think you can't blame passport control. The girls looked as if they could have been Turkish. I expect that many unaccompanied teenagers fly over to see family in their Turkish homeland.

I was also appalled at the reaction of the family talking about their 'babies' and sitting around with teddy bears. The film of the girls showed quite different young ladies who unfortunately have been misguided and this makes it all such a tragedy.

The girls were possibly far more computer savvy than their parents who were more than likely unaware of what their daughters were accessing on their computers. They probably thought they were diligently doing their homework.

Teenage girls can be very good at concealing from their parents just what they get up to.

I wonder at the mindset of the girl who recruited them.

"act" not "axe"

Oh me too Terribull - whilst on a holiday with a friend in Italy, we killed time waiting for a train by going off with some young lads in their car - they had offered to show us their home village, and they did just that - we met grandma and all the bambinos and enjoyed a massive plate of spaghetti; then they drove us back to the station.

A wonderful and memorable experience - but boy were we taking a risk, and if any of my girls has done this I would have had apoplexy!

However these girls who have taken themselves off to join IS are not signing up to a joyful experience that carries a bit of risk, but getting tied up with people who they know axe cruelly - it is so hard to understand how they cannot know that as intelligent young women.

grannyactivist - "I see some of the idiotic choices I made and I cringe" I remember friend and I aged 18 whilst in Italy thought it would be a good idea to hitch to the next town and got into a car with 4 young men, thankfully they did just that and dropped us in the next town without anything untoward happening, but friend and I look back now and see we were stupid! stupid! stupid!

I do not hold out much hope of them coming back - they are too much of a publicity coup for IS and they will make sure they get hoovered in.

How grim it all is.

I am very concerned about these children, who it is highly likely have been groomed. In my view they are still children at fifteen and sixteen and there is, as yet, no evidence that their parents are anything other than caring, loving parents.
My son in law was killed by a muslim boy of a similar age and I'm glad my daughter was able to acknowledge that he was still just a child even though his actions had such a catastrophic personal effect on her life. When I think back to my own teen years I see some of the idiotic choices I made and I cringe. These girls may well have been sold a lie and believed it, but which of us haven't? In time I sincerely hope they find a way to come home and be reunited with their families. And yes, they should be under surveillance until such time as they have demonstrated they are no longer taken in by the claims of radical Islam.

It seems to have become more and more important for parents and guardians to know what their children are doing online.
That is easy to say but not so easy to do. Especially now computers are totally mobile.
When mine were teenagers, we insisted on the computer being in the living room, and looking over their shoulders from time to time.
I dont know quite what we would do nowadays about it.
We would have to insist on some level of parental control.
I know that it all sounds draconian, but better than the alternative in my opinion.
<awaits outcry>

[and I am not saying that the parents of the three teenagers could have done anything better or different than they did]

I heard the head teacher interviewed on the radio earlier. The school blocks internet, twitter etc in their buildings. I am not convinced that all caring, cautious parents check their children's bank accounts or their internet history. All the girls had to do was wipe their history I think, to avoid their parents knowing what they were up to. I certainly don't feel we're in a position to question the parents motives on the information we have to date. What a nightmare for any loving parent and based on the girls success at school, it sounds as though they did have loving homes that encouraged them educationally, as well as caring for them.

DH and I have just filled in visas on line for Turkey. You need a computer a printer a credit card and your passport. It cost 20$ . And as we said at the end good job those girls were grade A* students . I think the parents must have been very negligent. I would think responsible parents would know what their daughters would be doing on line and given they had the use of a credit card how would an airline ticket not be noticed. The whole thing is fishy.
I read on slate I think it was or the huffing ton post that ISIS "warriors"were making large purchase of Viagra and sexy underwear for their women captives. And these girls from Bethnal Green will not expect to be raped and treated as sex slaves. Time for the teaching staff there to get real.

I didn't mean to sound unsympathetic to the families, or the girls and apologise to them if my post sounded overly judgemental. I was trying to make the point about teenage girls being experts at hoodwinking those who love and try and protect them. As someone said earlier, teenagers know everything and all to often, wonder how their parents have staggered through life knowing so little.
There are so many pernicious influences on children/young people of this age, whatever social class, race or faith they are growing up in. I hope these girls are safe and that the dreadful weather in Turkey may have slowed their progress to Syria down enough for them to be located. If they are returned to their families, I feel for all of them in trying to make sense of this and rebuild their lives.

Have to say folks, the tone of this thread is not exactly sympathetic to the parents or to the silly girls who have made a bad choice. I made some bad choices when I was young (but not that young) and so did my kids.
I think they are much more likely to be a horrific risk of exploitation and the dangers of a war zone than they are likely to be budding terrorists.

They were or are probably trying to hook up with their friend who left in December.
And whose Facebook or email or whatever may actually be being largely written by someone else.
The flights may well have been paid for by ISIS?

Exactly loopylou If, they do return they should be monitored closely for a VERY long time. Likewise their families and friends. Most of whom must have have had an idea of what was going on. How would you know that they were not plotting to carry out some kind of terrorist activity? We cannot treat these girls any differently to a potential male recruit. Both equally as dangerous.

Good question JessM who did pay for their flights?

God forbid they should return with fanatic ambitions.... Doesn't bear thinking about gillybob.
I assume should they return that they'll be viewed with suspicion equal to those of the male 'recruits'?