A fearless mother has told of her journey to Syria in a desperate bid to rescue her son from prison where he later died, his inquest heard today.

Dr Abbas Khan, 32, travelled to war-torn Syria to treat hospital bombing victims but was arrested within 48 hours of entering the country in November 2012.

He was tortured and beaten by interrogators and held in captivity until his death on December 16, 2013, just days before his promised release.

Dr Khan was a research fellow at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre (EOC) at Epsom Hospital while working for the hospital between August 2011 and January 2012.

The Syrian regime claim he hanged himself in his cell. His family remain adamant that he was murdered. 

Family hope "justice is done" at inquest into surgeon's death in Syrian custody

His mother Fatima Mahmood, from Mitcham, told the inquest she started shaking when she was first told that he had gone missing while working at a hospital in the city of Aleppo.

She said: "I was in shock. I went blank. I didn't start crying immediately.

"I told my husband, 'I can't bear my son's funeral at this age' because straight away I thought something bad had happened to my son."

Despite eight months of tirelessly contacting different embassies, the Foreign Office and human rights organisations, the family were no closer to finding him.

At the Royal Courts of Justice today his mother said she went out to Damascus alone in July last year.

She visited foreign embassies, government ministries and even prisons.

On July 24, she took a taxi to a prison where, unknown to her, her son was incarcerated.

Mrs Mahmood said: "I said to the guards 'I said please, is my son here' and showed them a picture of my son."

But she said they could not confirm whether he was held there, adding: "They turned their guns on me and my driver was shaking. My driver said come, come let's go."

Finally on August 1, she got to see her son at the Court of Terrorism.

She said: "I hugged him, he was shaking. He hugged me, he was in tears and he didn't leave me. I said 'Mummy's here for you."

She said he was a "skeleton" with black marks on his hands - as though he had received electric shocks - and his feet were burnt.

She said: "I threw myself at the judge's feet and said 'Sir, please, please have mercy on my son, please release him.'"

Her son was taken away in handcuffs and chains. She said: "Tell me how a British doctor, a surgeon, is being treated like an animal. I can't stop crying. I can't stop thinking about this."

Chief coroner Peter Thornton said: "He was found dead, allegedly hanged, in prison in Damascus on 16th December last year."

The father of two, from Streatham, was arrested in the city of Aleppo, soon after crossing over the border from Turkey.