A heartbroken Dover mum has spoken out after her son was killed fighting Islamic State.

Jac Holmes, 24, on the side of Kurdish militia, died while clearing landmines in Raqqa, Syria, it has been reported.

Angela Blannin, of Dover, said: “He had the courage of his convictions.

“He told me he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. But by going out there, he found something that he was good at and that he loved.”

“He stuck by his convictions because he wanted to be there and wanted to see the end of the caliphate.

“This was a moment in history and he wanted to be part of it. I was always 100% behind him.”

Ms Blannin described her son as “a hero in my eyes” and had hoped he would come home by Christmas.

She said she had not seen Mr Holmes for a year but had kept in touch with him online.

She added, in an interview with the BBC, that after the fighting he wanted to go into politics or close protection security.

Mr Holmes, a former IT worker from Bournemouth, had been fighting alongside the YPG for two years, travelling to join them three times.

He was one of a number of British volunteers going out to fight IS during the Syrian war.

It is understood that he had no previous military training but became one of the longest-serving volunteers in the conflict.

He said on Facebook that he had survived IS car bombs and being ambushed by its members.

Comrades expressed the bitter irony that Mr Holmes had died just after IS had lost control of Raqqa.