The story of Mr Foley’s years in captivity is being told to the court by European hostages of the Beatles who were released in return for ransom. 

Most of the 27 captives were eventually returned – except for the British and American. The US and UK are among the only countries in the world that have a strict policy of not allowing payment to terrorist groups.

The mother-of-five said she was threatened with prosecution if she even tried to raise her son’s $132 million (£100 million) ransom. She says she “had to beg” the government for information and was at times made to feel like a nuisance.

‘The UK and the US can do much better’

“I feel very strongly that Great Britain and the United States can do much better on this,” says Mrs Foley, a retired nurse who went on to found the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for the safe return of hostages held abroad.

“Obviously we need to avoid it conflicting with our foreign policy,” she tells The Telegraph, “but we need a third path, another creative way to make sure our citizens are protected.” 

She says she had just got off the phone with Richard Ratcliffe, the Briton whose wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was recently released after six years in Iranian detention.

“He says Parliament is now looking at how to better serve their citizens in these precarious positions, and I applaud that,” she says. “Clearly what we are doing now just isn’t working.”