John Cantlie - Sonic from Fast Bikes

[chris4652009]

My heart drops every time this is bumped up

I fear the worst but hope for the best , the poor bd

[Neil1300r]

marky911 said:

This thread popped into my head last night for some bizarre reason.
Anyone heard anything?

Latest mention I could find was here, but you have to subscribe to read it all (which I haven’t). -

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/london-isis-chi...
Doesn't say much about John Cantlie, just he may know what happened to him.

Edited by marky911 on Thursday 17th October 05:49

[marky911]

Yes I thought that would be the case. I didn’t know if anyone had any newer/better info.

Very sad.
Sorry for the bump. I’d hoped that maybe something had come from interrogating that scum bag in the latest story there.
Absolute animals.

[trickywoo]

Not that anyone knows for sure what happened to John but the worse seems increasingly likely and there is quite a nice tribute from a former colleague here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPYZTIbDMY starting around the 8:00 mark.

[blade7]

He was rescued once, and no one made him go back.

[jeff666]

Sadly and I am only guessing but after more that 8 years I should think he has gone,

I would however love to be proved wrong on this.

[cirian75]

Aye.


I doubt he is still alive.


Something probably happened that stopped ISIS bragging about killing him, maybe an air strike?

[Horsey McHorseface]

trickywoo said:

Not that anyone knows for sure what happened to John but the worse seems increasingly likely and there is quite a nice tribute from a former colleague here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPYZTIbDMY starting around the 8:00 mark.

Who is the former colleague in the black t-shirt, talking about JC?

[carinaman]

Horsey McHorseface said:

trickywoo said:

Not that anyone knows for sure what happened to John but the worse seems increasingly likely and there is quite a nice tribute from a former colleague here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPYZTIbDMY starting around the 8:00 mark.

Who is the former colleague in the black t-shirt, talking about JC?

Mat Durrans? Seems he was at Superbike with Cantlie in the 1990s.

[hepy]

I can remember him having that Suzuki. From memory he had a race against one of the other journo's to prove it was better? A Honda I think?

[FWIW]

trickywoo said:

Not that anyone knows for sure what happened to John but the worse seems increasingly likely and there is quite a nice tribute from a former colleague here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPPYZTIbDMY starting around the 8:00 mark.

Thanks for sharing.

[graeme4130]

blade7 said:

He was rescued once, and no one made him go back.

That's a valid point, and one that opens a broader question of motivation to return.
On the video released of him some time back, he didn't appear to be in any state of stress, and appeared to, quite willingly, be on the side of his 'Captors'
He had appeared to have lost some weight though.
At one end of the possible situation line he'd been stuck in a cave and starved whilst simultaneously being brain washed. On the other end, he knowing took their side (possibly through Stockholm syndrome) and is living a good life of hate of the western world surrounded by drugs and women, and being looked after.
Somewhere along that situation line lies the truth, that I guess we'll never know
Hopefully, he's still alive anyway

[blade7]

Do you think they'd take Sean Emmett in exchange?

[Biker's Nemesis]

I often think about this thread, I do hope by some miracle he is still alive.

[poo at Paul's]

Biker's Nemesis said:

I often think about this thread, I do hope by some miracle he is still alive.

To be fair, if he is gone, he may have lasted longer with isis than if he’d have stayed riding that TLR like he did! Proper nutter on a bike!

[chris4652009]

poo at Paul's said:

Biker's Nemesis said:

I often think about this thread, I do hope by some miracle he is still alive.

To be fair, if he is gone, he may have lasted longer with isis than if he’d have stayed riding that TLR like he did! Proper nutter on a bike!

Having just read "only cry for the living" by Hollie McKay...I very much doubt he's still alive

[Paft Dunk]

Having read about the journalist Andrew North being captured and released this week in Afghanistan I was reminded of this thread.


The chap that wrote the GQ article about John a number of years ago has some thoughts re the press blackout at the time.
https://www.cjr.org/first_person/john-cantlie-jame...

[Fundoreen]

Ok I doubt this will affect any outcome but he seems to have been a bit of a thrill seeker and very much trying to move from motorcycle journo to war zone journo.
Thats an incredibly risky thing to do and very much seems like he followed the lead of Frank Gardner who wasn't even a journalist but decided to cover war zones and risky situations to get his foot in the door. It sort of worked for him but at a terrible price.
I would hope JC's captors would accept he was just telling their story and let him go if still alive.

[five50]

John Cantlie getting a fairly prominent position in the Times this morning.

However, in terms of detailed info re his possible whereabouts, it doesn’t say much other than he was last seen in 2016. Ben Wallace the Defence sec had thought that he may still be alive in 2018, although no detailed evidence provided:

‘They hate us here’: Isis hostage John Cantlie’s smuggled final letter

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/978a8fca-bda0-1...

[five50]