Great Nephew Of Ex-War Minister John Profumo Held Returning From Syria

Picture: Jamie Janson (Facebook)

A relative of former war minister John Profumo is reported to have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences as he tried to re-enter the UK.

Jamie Janson is alleged to have been fighting against so-called Islamic State with the Kurdish People's Protection Units in Afrin, northern Syria, earlier this year.

He was detained under the Terrorism Act on Tuesday as he arrived at Folkestone, Kent, on a coach from France and has since been released on bail pending further inquiries.

The Daily Telegraph reports Mr Janson is the great nephew of John Profumo, who in 1963 shocked the nation when he was forced to resign from government after having an affair with ex-showgirl Christine Keeler.

He told the paper of how he and other foreign volunteers were smuggled out of Afrin after a resurgence of Turkish and Syrian rebel forces in the area.

Mr Janson, whose grandfather was First World War pilot Harold Harington Balfour, then took a flight from northern Iraq to Brussels, then travelled to France and on to the UK.

Watch: Jamie Janson joined up with the Kurds as a volunteer to battle Turkish troops in Afrin

Speaking of his arrest, he told the paper: "It was a pretty scary process.

"Police treated me very well and it has been amazing to see my family again after so long."

His brother Christopher, 33, told the Telegraph it was a "huge relief" that his brother was alive and safe.

"I received a text saying he had been bailed after being arrested on his way back into the country and he is now staying with friends," he added.

In a video posted online from the Afrin Resistance in March, Jamie Janson said:

"We international volunteers are standing with our friends in Afrin against the forces of tyranny and aggression."