A Kent mum has told of her heartbreak after her son was killed clearing landmines in Raqqa.

Jac Holmes had been fighting with Kurdish militia the YPG since 2015.

Kurdish representatives in the UK said the militia told them the former IT worker from Bournemouth was killed while he was clearing an area to make it safe for civilians.

His mother, Angie Blannin from Dover, said she had not seen Jac for over a year, but that they regularly kept in touch online and had been making plans for him coming home.

She said the 24-year-old was a "hero in my eyes".

"He was just a boy when he left the UK, a little bit lost. 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 he wanted to see the end of Raqqa and to see the end of the caliphate. That was a moment in history, and he wanted to be part of it."

"We thought with any luck he'd be home for Christmas. It had been so tough since he had been away but I was always 100% behind him."

"After all this, he had said he might go into politics, or perhaps into close protection security. He'd seen so much for a boy of his age," she told the BBC.

Mr Holmes also was known by his Kurdish nom de guerre Sores Amanos - "sores" meaning "revolution".

He was one of a number of British volunteers who travelled out to fight against IS with the Kurds during the Syrian conflict.