'Free my husband - a peaceful and selfless man,' says heartbroken wife Barbara

Alan Henning set off from Bolton in December as part of a huge aid convoy destined for Syria and was kidnapped within 30 minutes of crossing the border from Turkey.

Now, the 47 year old’s devoted wife Barbara has pleaded with Islamic State (IS) jihadists to let him go.

“Alan is a peaceful, selfless man who left his family and his job as a taxi driver in the UK to drive in a convoy all the way to Syria with his Muslim colleagues and friends to help those most in need,” Mrs Henning said in a statement released through the Foreign Office.

She said: She added: “When he was taken, he was driving an ambulance full of food and water to be handed out to anyone in need.

“His purpose for being there was no more and no less.

“This was an act of sheer compassion.

“I cannot see how it could assist any state’s cause to allow the world to see a man like Alan dying.

“I have been trying to communicate with the Islamic State and the people holding Alan.

“I have sent some really important messages but they have not been responded to.

“I pray that the people holding Alan respond to my messages and contact me before it is too late.

“When they hear this message I implore the people of Islamic State to see it in their hearts to release my husband Alan Henning.”

In three gruesome videos releases in recent weeks, IS militants have beheaded two American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Henning, of Salford, was shown at the end of the most recent video — released on September 13 — in which Mr Haines was brutally murdered.

Mrs Henning’s message is the first since IS put the video online.

Her appeal for mercy follows similar pleas from Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi, Little Lever man Yasir Amir, who was in the same aid convoy as Mr Henning and dozens of other loved ones and wellwishers.

A prayer vigil was held for Mr Henning at St Matthew’s Church in Little Lever on Thursday, September 18.