Jacky Sutton: Former BBC journalist found dead at Istanbul airport feared being caught up in ISIS attack

Former BBC journalist Jacky Sutton was found dead at Istanbul airport on Saturday
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Laura Proto19 October 2015

A British journalist found dead in a toilet cubicle at a Turkish airport had previously expressed fears she could be caught up in an Islamic State attack.

Jacky Sutton, 50, a former BBC employee, was found hanged at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport on Saturday night.

It is believed she travelled from Heathrow to Turkey before failing to make her connecting flight to Erbil.

Turkish media outlets claimed Ms Sutton killed herself after missing her second flight and admitting she didn't have enough money to pay for another ticket.

Family members and friends have disputed the claims but Ms Sutton’s brother said he believed there were “very odd circumstances” surrounding his sister’s death, the Telegraph reported.

Ms Sutton was working for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) at the time of her death, which came five months after her predecessor was reportedly killed in Baghdad by a car bomb.

An expert source told the Telegraph that it was unlikely Ammar Al Shahbander was the target in the attack and said that Ms Sutton’s death was also likely to be a “tragic coincidence”.

But friend Amanda Whitely posted a tribute in a blog and included an email extract in which Ms Sutton said she was worried Islamic State fighters would attack.

The email said: “It just needs one whacko to hear in the Friday prayers that killing foreigners is jihad, and they’ll come knocking at your door in a heartbeat.

"Erbil has grown but everyone knows where the foreigners are staying. So I am going to stay in the hotel until next week when I will move in with some Kurdish friends who live in a gated community.

“If Daesh (ISIS) wants to attack they will but it will take planning and I won’t be THE target; if the whacko wants to get to heaven he or she will have to contend with armed guards and a choice of targets, and the same with criminal kidnappers – a growth industry in Iraq.

“It’s great to be back here and my friends in both Baghdad and Erbil have been calling me pretty much non-stop.

“I won’t be posting on FB too much because there is no point in drawing attention to myself and my colleagues, but I will be keeping a diary and would love to write something for you once I get back to Australia.

“Ideally I’d like to do a “postcard from Erbil” but you never know who is reading…”

Colleagues have called for a full investogation into the cirumstances of Ms Sutton's death.

Journalist and international development worker Rebecca Cooke said: "Shocking and sad news about the death of Jacky Sutton in Istanbul. An international not just local investigation is needed."

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