Three London schoolgirls who fled to Syria to join the Islamic State group are believed to have funded their travel by stealing jewellery from relatives, British MPs have been told.
Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, flew to Istanbul on February 17 and are feared to have continued to Syria to become so-called "jihadi brides" with IS militants.
The three paid more than STG1000 ($A1960) in cash to a travel agent for their flights to Turkey, the Home Affairs Select Committee heard on Tuesday.
Asked how they raised the funds, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the national police lead for counterterrorism, told the committee it was believed they'd stolen from their families.
"We think it's linked to taking jewellery from one of their family members," he said.
Earlier, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised for failing to communicate more directly with the families, but insisted there was nothing more the force could have done to stop them from leaving.
It has since emerged that the trio were among seven schoolgirls handed letters by the police about another 15-year-old who ran away to Syria in December.
Earlier at Tuesday's hearing, relatives of the girls demanded an apology from the police for failing to hand the crucial letter directly to their parents.
Sir Bernard said he was sorry the family was in such a situation, and that the letter never got through.
"I don't think we would go as far as saying therefore that caused the girls to go. There was nothing more we could have done to prevent that," he said.
"In hindsight, we now know that these girls were planning to go and neither the family, the police, the school nor anyone else realised that.
"That's the sequence of events, the circumstances the parents find themselves in is a terrible situation and they must be worried sick, about how those girls are."
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