It's now 10 years since the horrific execution of Scots aid worker David Haines by Islamic State fighters in Syria.

David, 44, whose elderly parents Herbert and Mary lived in Ayr, was beheaded, with the gruesome video of his execution filmed and released on social media.

PM David Cameron described the murder as an "act of pure evil".

Local MP Sandra Osborne described his cold-blooded execution as ‘barbaric’ and expressed her sympathies to the aid worker’s parents.

Mr Haines, a father of two, was the third Western hostage - and first Briton - paraded on camera by the extremist organisation.

He was working for a French aid agency when he was kidnapped in Syria in March 2013.

The Advertiser's front page from September 2014The Advertiser's front page from September 2014 (Image: Newsquest) David joined Acted to help co-ordinate the delivery of clean water, food and tents, in order to ease the growing humanitarian crisis in refugee camps near Atmeh, a town in northern Idlib province, near the Syrian border with Turkey.

Mr Haines and other aid workers were staying in Atmeh - and on 12 March he and an Italian colleague, Federico Motka, were kidnapped. Mr Motka was later released.

His family were ordered by the UK Foreign Office not to speak to anybody about the abduction - even after it became public when David appeared in an earlier execution video that threatened he would be the next victim.

His eventual execution was carried out by the ex-Brit known as 'Jihadi John' - later revealed to be Mohammed Emwazi, who died in a drone strike in 2016.

Born in Holderness, East Yorkshire, Mr Haines had been raised in Scotland and attended Perth Academy. 

At the time of his brutal death, Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Sandra Osborn said “I am sickened at the disgusting, barbaric killing of David Haines.

"David Haines was somebody whose only purpose was to help innocent people who themselves were the victims of conflict.

"He was in Libya during its civil war in 2011, working as head of mission for Handicap International, which helps disabled people in poverty and conflict zones around the world.

“Mr Haines was taken hostage while working for ACTED in Syria in March 2013, having previously helped people in Libya and South Sudan.

"What they did to David Haines goes against all humanitarian principles and this barbaric crime must not remain unpunished.

"As the MP for Ayr Carrick & Cumnock my thoughts are particularly with his family at this time who live locally within the constituency.”

David's daughter continues to lead a campaign to find her father's body and return it to the UK.