Ukip's Richard Hilton to be investigated over saying Jihadi John should have killed himself

Emwazi claimed that he thought about killing himself to get away from the MI5

The 26-year-old is believed to have left Britain for Syria in 2012-13 (AP)

Ukip are to investigate a prospective parliamentary candidate’s comments that Jihadi John should have killed himself.

Richard Hilton, a PPC for Mitcham and Morden, said that the suspected Isis executioner – who appears in beheading videos and has been identified as Mohammed Emwazi – should have killed himself.

The Tory defector tweeted yesterday: “Jihadi John ‘contemplated suicide’. It’s a shame he didn’t. Don’t understand media attempts to blame MI5 for his evil.”

The tweet has since been deleted. It linked to a Sky News story about Emwazi having reportedly thought about ending his own life as he claims he “felt like a dead man walking” under MI5 surveillance.

“However I am gay and Islamic State are throwing gay people off roofs before stoning their bodies, so I am not going to apologise for wishing that Jihadi John and the murderous Islamic State were not around.”

Emwazi, a 26-year-old from west London who studied computer science at the University of Westminster, claimed he thought about ending his life because he was being harassed by UK intelligence agents before he left for Syria.

He said he encountered a spy who masqueraded as a man who wanted to buy his laptop. He believed he was from MI5 because the man called him by his first name, which Emwazi had yet to tell him.

Emails sent by Emwazi in 2010 to Mail on Sunday's Security Editor Robert Verkaik state that he felt trapped by alleged MI5 persecution after travelling to Dar es Salaam and being questioned by UK agents in the Netherlands who told him he was on a terror watch list.

He wrote: “I knew it was them!! Sometimes i feel like im a dead man walking, not fearing they may kill me.

“Rather, fearing that one day, I’ll take as many pills as I can so that I can sleep for ever!! I just want to get away from these people!!! (all sic)”

A Ukip spokesman said: “[Mr Hilton’s] comments will be investigated and considered at the earliest opportunity by the National Executive Committee as part of an established disciplinary procedure.”