Murdered backpacker's mother criticises Trump over claims her daughter's death was 'terror attack'

The mother of a British backpacker who was stabbed to death at an Australian hostel has criticised US President Donald Trump for suggesting her daughter's death was a "terror attack".

On Monday (6 February), the White House released a list of 78 terror attacks from September 2014 to December 2016 that it believes were overlooked – and Rosie Ayliffe's daughter was on it.

The Trump administration has claimed that certain media organisations ignore terror attacks after the president was criticised for signing an executive order that banned citizens from entering the US from seven mainly-Muslim countries. The "under-reported" incidents included the Islamic State (Isis) attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the shootings in Tunisia that killed 30 British tourists in June of the same year.

Also on the list were two British backpackers, Mia Ayliffe-Chung and Tom Jackson, who were killed in a hostel in the Australian state of Queensland last August.

Ayliffe-Chung, 21, from Derbyshire, was stabbed to death at the Shelley's Backpackers hostel and Jackson 30, from Cheshire died days after the incident after being injured in the same attack.

The Trump administration included the pair on a list of attacks described as "executed or inspired by" Isis.

However, Ayliffe responded: "My daughter's death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people."

Frenchman Smail Ayad, 29, has been charged with the murder of the Britons, which Australian police has described as an "act of senseless violence" with no links to terrorism.

Rosie Ayliffe said: "The circumstances of Mia and Tom's deaths prove that those with the strength of character to travel the world and learn about other cultures should be cherished as brave, resilient characters who have so much to offer if they are nurtured and given opportunities, rather than defeated by adverse circumstances.

"Treating immigrants as disposable commodities and disregarding their safety causes deaths throughout our so-called civilised world.

"The possibility of Mia and Tom's deaths being consequent to an Islamic terror attack was discounted in the early stages of the police investigation.

"This vilification of whole nation states and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred."