The British government could have done more to save aid worker Alan Henning from being murdered by the jihadists who held him hostage, his brother-in-law says.

Colin Livesey described the Islamic State (IS) group militants who killed Henning as “scum” and said he prayed they “get what’s coming to them”.

Speaking to BBC News after the release of a video which showed the aid worker beheaded, Livesey said he was “angry” with the British government.

“They could have done more when they knew about it months and months ago.

“Just the same with David Haines as well – I don’t think they did enough for him either … I just don’t think they did enough in my eyes.”

Haines, an aid worker from Perth in Scotland, was killed last month by apparently the same masked British man, known as “Jihadi John”, who murdered Henning.

Henning, a father of two and taxi driver from Salford in England, had travelled to war-torn Syria last December to give much-needed aid to the country’s refugees.

But he was kidnapped then held captive by IS fanatics, who last night released a chilling video showing his murder.

Livesey, the brother of Henning’s wife Barbara, said his family had been left “devastated” and he would always remember his brother-in-law as a “kind, gentle man that made me laugh”.

“For a person who went there to give aid, to help their kids, their people in Syria, and for them to do what they have done, there is just no sense in it at all. I just hope and pray they get what’s coming to them.

“There are no words in the dictionary to describe how I feel towards them, I’ve just got so much hatred for them.”