WHAT makes a well-educated young man from a respected family become an extremist and begin recruiting students for Isis? It is a question which is very hard to answer but, sadly, that is the path Mohammed Fakhri-Al-Khabass appears to have chosen.

According to the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, he "played a major role" in persuading two groups of Britons to travel from Sudan to Syria to join Isis this year.

There will be some who will feel inclined to attach blame to his family – and that would be quite wrong.

Every parent knows that raising children is a hazardous business, with the possibility that offspring can go off the rails and bring shame on the family.

That is what has happened in the case of Al-Khabass and the family he has left behind in Middlesbrough.

His father Fakhri, a retired NHS doctor, told today of his family's belief in peace and their embarrassment at his son's apparent journey into terrorism.

By all accounts, the Al-Khabass family are well liked in their local Teesside community. They are quiet and unassuming but happy to get involved in local events, such as helping to make the food for a street party held to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

It is not their fault that their son has become radicalised during his time at university.

Indeed, we applaud those neighbours in Middlesbrough who have been thoughtful enough to support the family by posting a "thinking of you" card.

It is that kind of understanding which is required at what must be a distressing time for the family. Our thoughts are with them.