Statement by Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva on the murder of British aid volunteer Alan Henning

"The news that Alan Henning, a British aid volunteer, has been murdered by ISIS after nine months in captivity in Syria is not just an appalling crime against humanity and a devastating blow to his family and loved ones. It is an attack against all those who want to help innocent civilians caught in the madness of a terrible war.

Alan Henning was described by a friend who organised the convoys from Manchester to Syria in which he participated as “ a man who is full of compassion ... just a normal bloke, an everyday taxi driver who wanted to do good ” .

I can well understand the despair that this latest act of barbaric propaganda by ISIS will have caused among Mr Henning's family and friends. This is one of the aims of his killers. They want to kill our humanity and our solidarity with the ordinary suffering Syrian people.

The most lasting tribute that we can pay to this good man is to surrender neither our compassion nor our determination to bring light into the darkness that has descended on the lives of the people for whom he gave his own life."