MORE people may have left Camden for parts of Iraq and Syria held by Isis than official police records suggest, according to the council.

And now the Town Hall has been asked by the Home Office to be prepared to help families who may have been affected as men, women and children seek to return to London. Councillors are due to look at the protocol for dealing with returnees on Monday evening as part of a wider discussion on the borough’s response to extremism.

In the high-profile case of Shamima Begum, the young pregnant woman who left her family in Tower Hamlets behind to live in Isis-controlled Raqqa, the government revoked citizenship – despite her pleas to be able to come home and have her baby here. In other cases, people will be allowed to return, depending on case-by-case Home Office decisions.

Some may face time in prison or other penalties before returning to life in the community

. Different support packages could be offered, depending on the reason given for returning to Camden, a range which includes remorseful reaching out for help to being captured and forced back to the United Kingdom unwillingly.

Experts will be on hand to deal with concerns relating to radicalisation and possible mental health issues, including desensitisation to violence, the report said.

The protocol says some individuals may need to be relocated, and advises that social media footprints should be removed.

“From the age of nine, some children will have started to receive military and ideological training,” it warns. “These early efforts to indoctrinate children may require tailored support. “This may also require tailored psychological support to address experiences of detachment from parents while they were attending training camps. In Daesh [Isis]-controlled territories, girls are also deemed to be able to marry from the age of nine, thereby increasing the risks of child sexual exploitation and abuse.”

In her report to next week’s cross-party culture and environment scrutiny committee, Jessica Gibbons, Camden’s director of community services, says: “We are aware that individuals from Camden have travelled to Syria to join Daesh. Although exact numbers are not known, anecdotal information from communities suggests this number is higher than confirmed cases by police.”

The Isis ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria was declared defeated last week when Syrian Democratic Forces won a battle in Baghouz.

But while swathes of territory have been retaken, governments fear that the group will remain in operation as a terrorist organisation driven by its ideology.

Ms Gibbons said: “Loss of Daesh territory in Syria means that our focus has shifted from those who may travel to the war zone to those who may return to our borough from there.”

Camden has no returnees so far, but the Home Office has asked all local authorities to be ready. Spikes in hate crime in Camden were recorded after the EU referendum, but levels quickly fell.

Some far-right stickering in the borough has been a cause for concern.

“There has been no recorded increase in tensions. However, community perception and fear of crime have increased, particularly among Muslim women,” said Ms Gibbons.