THE government appears to have ruled out helping a runaway London teenager return to Britain after she finally surfaced this week in a Syrian refugee camp.

Shamima Begum went missing four years ago aged just 15. The schoolgirl from Bethnal Green disappeared with two friends and joined Isis militants in Syria.     ​

On Wednesday The Times tracked her down to a camp where she told its reporter that she wanted to return home and was nine-months’ pregnant.

But Security Minister Ben Wallace effectively ruled this out today, saying: “Actions have consequences” and that he would not risk British lives to “go and look for terrorists or former terrorists.”

His comments have alarmed leading defence lawyer Joel Bennathan QC, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, who told the Morning Star: “People forget we are dealing with sexually abused and radicalised children.

“Of course we need to keep the public safe, but many of these young women are victims as well.”

When Ms Begum originally went missing, the Metropolitan Police said she should be treated as a victim, provided she did not commit offences while abroad.

The Isis group notoriously used social media to groom young women into marrying its male fighters.

Ms Begum was wedded within 10 days of arriving in the Isis stronghold of Raqqa.

She gave birth to two children who have both since died in the violence and she fears her unborn child may not survive unless she is able to return home.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls’ families after they ran away, said he was “glad [Ms Begum] is alive and safe.”

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls’ families, who had “expressed the position that they want time and space to process what’s happened.”

In 2017, then Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Max Hill QC, who is now the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales, suggested allowances could be made for the return of individuals such as the Bethnal Green schoolgirls, because they were “very young and naive.”

The Isis group has nearly been completely defeated in Syria. Figures published this week showed British forces dropped 75 bombs on the country in December 2018 — its most intensive month of bombing so far.