Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution.

It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact.

The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli government, hostage families and some Conservatives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said such a move "rewards terror".

However, UK ministers argue there was a moral responsibility to act to keep the hope of a long-term peace deal alive.

Government sources said the situation on the ground had worsened significantly in the last few weeks. They cited images showing starvation and violence in Gaza, which the prime minister has previously described as "intolerable".

Israel's latest ground operation in Gaza City, described by a UN official as "cataclysmic", has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Earlier this week, a United Nations commision of inquiry concluded Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel denounced as "distorted and false".

Ministers also highlighted the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, as a key factor in the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Justice Secretary David Lammy, who was foreign secretary in July when the path to recognition was announced, cited the controversial E1 settlement project which critics warn would put an end to hopes for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

He said: "The recognition of a Palestinian state is as a consequence of the serious expansion that we're seeing in the West Bank, the settler violence that we're seeing in the West Bank, and the intention and indications that we're seeing to build for example the E1 development that would run a coach and horses through the possibility of a two-state solution."

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the UK's recognition pledge when he visited Sir Keir earlier this month, with Downing Street saying both leaders had agreed Hamas had no role in future governance of Palestine.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she wanted to see a two-state solution in the Middle East.

But writing in The Telegraph over the weekend, she said: "It is obvious, and the US has been clear on this, that recognition of a Palestinian state at this time and without the release of the hostages, would be a reward for terrorism."

Meanwhile, in an open letter to Sir Keir on Saturday, family members of some of the hostages taken by Hamas urged the Prime Minister not to take the step until the remaining 48, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive, had been returned.

The announcement of the forthcoming recognition had "dramatically complicated efforts to bring home our loved ones", they wrote. "Hamas has already celebrated the UK's decision as a victory and reneged on a ceasefire deal."

During a state visit to the UK this week, US President Donald Trump also said he disagreed with recognition.

Sir Keir had set a deadline of the UN General Assembly meeting, which takes place this week, for Israel to take "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution".

Speaking in July, he said: "I've always said we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution.

"With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act."

A number of other countries including Portugal, France, Canada and Australia have also said they will recognise a Palestinian state, while Spain, Ireland and Norway took the step last year.

Palestine is currently recognised by around 75% of the UN's 193 member states, but has no internationally agreed boundaries, no capital and no army - making recognition largely symbolic.

The two-state solution refers to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel currently occupies both the West Bank and Gaza, meaning the Palestinian Authority is not in full control of its land or people.

Recognising a Palestinian state has long been a cause championed by many within the Labour Party. The PM has been under mounting pressure to take a tougher stance on Israel, particularly from MPs on the left of his party.

Shortly before he gave his speech in July, more than half of Labour MPs signed a letter calling for the government to immediately recognise a Palestinian state.

However, critics questioned why the government had appeared to put conditions on Israel but not on Hamas, when it set out its path to recognition.

The Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, called on the government to pause its decision.

"The intended recognition is not contingent upon a functioning or democratic Palestinian government, nor even upon the most basic commitment to a peaceful future," he said.

"Astonishingly, it is not even conditional upon the release of the 48 hostages who remain in captivity."

Government sources insisted their demands for Hamas to release the hostages and agree to a ceasefire had not changed.

But officials in the Foreign Office argued statehood was a right of the Palestinian people and could not be dependent on Hamas, which the government views as a terrorist organisation.

Speaking on Thursday when he hosted President Trump at Chequers, Sir Keir reiterated that Hamas could play "no part" in any future Palestinian state.

The Israeli military launched its Gaza campaign in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 64,964 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution.

It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact.

The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli government, hostage families and some Conservatives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said such a move "rewards terror".

However, UK ministers argue there was a moral responsibility to act to keep the hope of a long-term peace deal alive.

Government sources said the situation on the ground had worsened significantly in the last few weeks. They cited images showing starvation and violence in Gaza, which the prime minister has previously described as "intolerable".

Israel's latest ground operation in Gaza City, described by a UN official as "cataclysmic", has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

Earlier this week, a United Nations commision of inquiry concluded Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel denounced as "distorted and false".

Ministers also highlighted the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, as a key factor in the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Justice Secretary David Lammy, who was foreign secretary in July when the path to recognition was announced, cited the controversial E1 settlement project which critics warn would put an end to hopes for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

He said: "The recognition of a Palestinian state is as a consequence of the serious expansion that we're seeing in the West Bank, the settler violence that we're seeing in the West Bank, and the intention and indications that we're seeing to build for example the E1 development that would run a coach and horses through the possibility of a two-state solution."

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the UK's recognition pledge when he visited Sir Keir earlier this month, with Downing Street saying both leaders had agreed Hamas had no role in future governance of Palestine.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she wanted to see a two-state solution in the Middle East.

But writing in The Telegraph over the weekend, she said: "It is obvious, and the US has been clear on this, that recognition of a Palestinian state at this time and without the release of the hostages, would be a reward for terrorism."

Meanwhile, in an open letter to Sir Keir on Saturday, family members of some of the hostages taken by Hamas urged the Prime Minister not to take the step until the remaining 48, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive, had been returned.

The announcement of the forthcoming recognition had "dramatically complicated efforts to bring home our loved ones", they wrote. "Hamas has already celebrated the UK's decision as a victory and reneged on a ceasefire deal."

During a state visit to the UK this week, US President Donald Trump also said he disagreed with recognition.

Sir Keir had set a deadline of the UN General Assembly meeting, which takes place this week, for Israel to take "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution".

Speaking in July, he said: "I've always said we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution.

"With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act."

A number of other countries including Portugal, France, Canada and Australia have also said they will recognise a Palestinian state, while Spain, Ireland and Norway took the step last year.

Palestine is currently recognised by around 75% of the UN's 193 member states, but has no internationally agreed boundaries, no capital and no army - making recognition largely symbolic.

The two-state solution refers to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel currently occupies both the West Bank and Gaza, meaning the Palestinian Authority is not in full control of its land or people.

Recognising a Palestinian state has long been a cause championed by many within the Labour Party. The PM has been under mounting pressure to take a tougher stance on Israel, particularly from MPs on the left of his party.

Shortly before he gave his speech in July, more than half of Labour MPs signed a letter calling for the government to immediately recognise a Palestinian state.

However, critics questioned why the government had appeared to put conditions on Israel but not on Hamas, when it set out its path to recognition.

The Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, called on the government to pause its decision.

"The intended recognition is not contingent upon a functioning or democratic Palestinian government, nor even upon the most basic commitment to a peaceful future," he said.

"Astonishingly, it is not even conditional upon the release of the 48 hostages who remain in captivity."

Government sources insisted their demands for Hamas to release the hostages and agree to a ceasefire had not changed.

But officials in the Foreign Office argued statehood was a right of the Palestinian people and could not be dependent on Hamas, which the government views as a terrorist organisation.

Speaking on Thursday when he hosted President Trump at Chequers, Sir Keir reiterated that Hamas could play "no part" in any future Palestinian state.

The Israeli military launched its Gaza campaign in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 64,964 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

States are there to protect. But so are fathers.

Abdel Aziz Majarmeh was standing next to his 13-year-old son, Islam, as he was shot dead by Israeli forces this month at the entrance to Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank.

"My son fell to the ground, and then I heard the sound of a shot," he said. "An army jeep came up and five or six soldiers pointed their weapons at me, telling me to leave. I didn't even know my son was martyred. I started dragging him away."

Abdel Aziz said he had gone to the camp – occupied by Israel's army since January – to retrieve family documents from his home there.

"There is no one for me to complain to," he told me. "They control everything. The Palestinian Authority can't even protect itself – it only implements the decisions of the Jews."

As a Palestinian, Abdel Aziz is resigned to his powerlessness. As a father, he's tormented.

"In my mind, I keep asking that soldier: why pick on a 13-year-old boy? I'm standing right next to him. Shoot me. Why are you shooting children? I'm here, shoot me."

Israel's army said it had fired to neutralize a threat posed by suspects who had approached them in a closed military area, and was examining the incident.

It refused to clarify what threat the teenager had posed.

Cities like Jenin were put under the full control of the Palestinian Authority three decades ago, under the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Peace Accords.

They were meant to be the seeds from which statehood would grow.

But Israel says it was terrorism that flourished there. In January, it sent tanks into Jenin and the neighbouring city of Tulkarem to crush armed Palestinian groups, saying it would apply lessons learned in Gaza.

Since then, Israeli forces have remained, razing large areas of the camps in both cities, and demolishing buildings in other areas.

The UK, France and other countries are now set to recognise a Palestinian state, as Israeli control spreads across the West Bank and the Gaza War grinds on.

Jenin's mayor, Mohammed Jarrar, took me to the camp entrance near where Islam was shot. The army vehicles stationed here on my previous visits are nowhere to be seen, but a large earth berm now blocks the road in, and locals say Israeli snipers still scan the area from the buildings overhead.

Mr Jarrar told me around 40% of Jenin was now a military area for Israeli forces, with around a quarter of residents – including the entire camp – displaced from their homes.

"It was clear from the beginning this was a major political plan, not a security operation," he told me. "This Israeli government wants to annex the West Bank and in preparation for that, it wants to prevent any [armed] opposition to its plan."

Israel has also placed the Palestinian Authority under a long-term economic siege, withholding tax revenues the PA needs to pay teachers and police.

Israel accuses it of funding terrorism by compensating the families of Palestinian militants who are killed. The PA says it has now scrapped that payment scheme.

Mr Jarrar said it was now very challenging to provide even basic services to the local population, and to persuade young people not to leave.

Against this backdrop, he said, the recognition of a Palestinian state by Britain, France and others is important, even after more than 140 other nations have already done so.

"It confirms the fact that the Palestinian people possess a state, even if it is under occupation," he told me. "I know that this recognition will lead to [greater] occupation of the West Bank. But even so I believe recognition is more important, because it will shape the future of the Palestinian people, and the international community will be called on to defend their rights."

Recognition of a Palestinian state by the UK and France is also a recognition of the political chasm between Israel and its European allies over this issue.

"There will be no Palestinian state," Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told settlers in the West Bank last week. "This place is ours. We will see to our heritage, our land and our security."

Netanyahu has built his career on preventing a Palestinian state, and his government has pushed hard on expanding settlements in the West Bank.

His far-right allies have been pushing for formal annexation, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently outlining a plan to annex 82% of West Bank, with the remaining Palestinian enclaves cut off from each other.

US President Donald Trump has opposed the recognition of a Palestinian state, but has not publicly criticised Israeli moves towards annexation.

Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and has never left.

Establishing civilian settlements on occupied land is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, but Israel argues that it has a historic Jewish right to the West Bank.

Around half a million settlers now live there, and the Israeli organisation, Peace Now, which tracks settlement expansion, says more than 100 new outposts have appeared across the West Bank in the past two years.

Outposts are illegal under both international and Israeli law, but they receive tacit approval from Netanyahu's government as well as state support in the form of roads, security and utilities.

Earlier this summer, Ayman Soufan saw new neighbours arrive on the hill next to his house, in the hills south of Nablus.

From his window, he and his grandchildren have a clear view of the simple wooden shelter and corrugated iron shed put up by Israeli settlers that Ayman says are from the nearby settlement of Yitzhar.

"This outpost they set up here is to push us out of our house. Every day a settler comes, bangs on the house, shouting 'leave, leave!'," he told me. "They throw their garbage at our doorstep. I call the authorities and they say, "We'll send the army". But the army never comes. The settlers are the army, they are the police, they are everything."

Ayman's family built this house, near the village of Burin, a few years after Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Israel was temporarily given control over rural areas like this under the Oslo peace accords, with the intention that they would eventually be transferred to a future Palestinian State, after negotiations over settlements there.

But Israeli control has remained, settlements have mushroomed, and human rights groups say Israeli forces are increasingly supportive of settler attacks.

Ayman said his father had died from a heart attack as settlers set fire to the house in 2003, and that his home had been torched several more times since then.

"Who is supposed to protect me," Ayman asked. "The Palestinian police? They can't even prevent this happening in the cities, how will they come here? Here, my security is in the hands of the people who occupy me."

International recognition of a Palestinian state is a good thing, he says, even if little will change on the ground.

"What's coming is worse," he said. "But if I ever leave this house, it'll be when I'm carried out dead. This house where I was born, where I grew up and lived my childhood; every corner has a memory for me. How can I leave it?"

In the decades since the Oslo Accords, Israeli narratives have hardened, armed Palestinian groups have strengthened, and the control of the Palestinian Authority government has been eaten away.

"Palestine was never theirs and will never be theirs," said bereaved father Abdel Aziz Majarmeh. "Sooner or later, today, tomorrow, in a year or two, they will leave this country. And Palestine will be liberated."

The UK and France have clung to the idea that two separate states – Israeli and Palestinian – are the solution to the conflict here, even as Palestinian territory was taken, and Palestinian institutions undermined.

Now the Gaza war, and questions over who will govern Gaza afterwards, have forced that political gridlock into open confrontation, as Netanyahu's far-right allies push hard for annexation.

Some Israelis say the West Bank is like the Wild West: a place where statehood and sovereignty are decided not by laws and declarations but by facts on the ground.

Israel has long argued there can be no Palestinian state without its agreement.

Now, by pushing ahead with recognition, the UK, France and others are signalling that Israel can't cancel statehood alone.

A political fact by Israel's allies to counter its facts on the ground.

Sir Ed Davey is calling on the UK's communications regulator Ofcom to "go after" Elon Musk over "crimes" he claims are being committed on the tech mogul's social media platform X.

The Liberal Democrat leader said Musk should be held personally accountable for breaches of the Online Safety Act, which the billionaire has said is putting free speech at risk.

In an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Davey claimed X had shown "adverts for people who want to show videos with paedophile images, self-harming, grooming".

He called on Ofcom to launch an investigation into Musk and X, as his party gathered in Bournemouth for its annual conference. X has been contacted for a response.

Under the Online Safety Act, which came into force earlier this year, internet companies have been forced to introduce stricter age verification checks and face big fines for failing to remove illegal content.

The government insists the laws, passed by the previous Conservative government but brought into effect by Labour, will protect children.

But it has faced a backlash from US tech giants, with Elon Musk saying last month that its real purpose was "suppression of the people" and that Ofcom had taken a "heavy-handed approach" to enforcement.

But Sir Ed claimed Musk "had taken away the child safety team" at X, allowing harmful and illegal content on to the platorm.

"He [Musk} is actually, I think, committing crimes," he told Laura Kuenssberg.

"Ofcom should go after him. The laws are there. What his business is doing is against the law because it is disgusting."

Sir Ed has already clashed with Musk over his criticism of the tech mogul's appearance, via video link, at last weekend's United the Kingdom rally in London.

Addressing the rally organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, Musk criticised "uncontrolled migration" and said: "Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die."

Sir Ed accused Musk of "inciting violence" and called on him to face sanctions, prompting the X and Tesla owner to brand him a "craven coward".

The Lib Dem leader plans to use his keynote speech at his party's conference on Tuesday to step up his criticism of Musk, accusing him of meddling in British democracy.

"It's not because he cares about the British people, and our rights and our freedoms. It's all about his ego, power and wealth," Sir Ed will say.

"He rails against the Online Safety Act, but not because he cares about free speech.

"Like so many on the far-right – or the far-left – Elon Musk doesn't really believe in free speech. He just believes in free speech for people who agree with him.

"It's because he wants to carry on running his social media platform without taking any responsibility for the terrible harm it is causing – especially to our children."

The Lib Dems also plan to table a motion when Parliament returns summoning Musk to appear before MPs to be held to account for his actions at the Unite the Kingdom rally.

They will attempt to activate a little-used Parliamentary device to summon Musk to the bar of the House of Commons to be reprimanded by MPs.

Watch the full interview with Sir Ed Davey on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg at 0900 BST and on BBC Iplayer

As the clock counted down to 16:00, Tianna Hunkins braced herself for a mad rush.

She had been given a shift at a nearby fast food restaurant that started precisely when her lecture ended.

Luckily, she was already wearing her uniform under a hoodie, so "nobody would know".

"I always make it on time," she says.

The 19-year-old is one of a growing number of students juggling paid work alongside their studies because maintenance loans don't cover their living costs.

Recent research from the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) suggests students in England need £61,000 over a three-year degree "to have a minimum socially acceptable standard of living".

The think tank found the maximum annual maintenance loan covers "just half the costs faced by freshers", while a Save the Student survey published this week suggested that, on average, maintenance loans have fallen short of covering living costs – by £502 per month.

From 30-hour working weeks to two-hour commutes from their family home, students have been speaking to the BBC about the lengths they're going to in order to make up the maintenance loan shortfall - even with family help.

"I wouldn't put myself through this stress [of a job alongside studying] if I didn't have to," says Tianna, who is from Nottingham but has just returned to Newcastle for her second year at Northumbria University.

Tianna is set to receive a £4,915 maintenance loan for this academic year, which is far below what she needs to cover her rent (£7,932).

She's grateful her parents can help pay for her accommodation, so her maintenance loan can cover food, transport, socialising and pricey law books.

She also plans to save money from her part-time work for a house deposit.

But for Tianna, part of the appeal of going to university was the chance to embrace hobbies and make friends - so she knew she had to find a part-time job to fund her busy social life, as well as sports like netball and ice skating.

After applying for "over 100 jobs" she landed a contract at a fast-food chain in the second term of first year. She soon found herself working about 30 hours a week - often finishing at 02:00.

With public transport done for the day by that time, Tiana would shell out £8 for an Uber ride to avoid walking alone at night - and to give herself more sleep ahead of 09:00 lectures.

Sometimes working involved making sacrifices.

"One of my friends got an opportunity to do a legal internship through this paralegal event that I wasn't able to go to because I was at work," she says. "I missed out on that."

The amount students can borrow for living costs has risen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this year.

The maximum maintenance loan for students from England living away from their parents outside of London, for example, is now £10,544. The amount you can borrow depends on your household income.

But still, more and more students are working part time to cover their costs.

Recent research from Hepi and Advance HE suggested that 68% of UK students were in paid employment during term time, up from 35% in 2015.

Faith Webb, 20, says she sees "a lot of people in lectures in a work uniform" on her linguistics course at the University of Manchester.

Faith's maintenance loan covered the cost of her halls in first year, but wasn't enough to pay for her room in the flat she rented with friends in second year.

This year her loan is £6,600. With many of her friends not renting this year, she was faced with the prospect of moving back into halls - which she didn't want to do because she didn't enjoy that in first year - or renting alone, which she couldn't afford.

So, Faith chose a third option.

"I've decided to move back home and commute to uni rather than living in Manchester itself," she says

Home, for Faith, is with her parents in Birkenhead, Wirral.

Her new commute will mean catching a 06:30 bus to Liverpool, a train to Manchester, and a 20-minute walk. She expects it to take around an hour and a half each way and to cost £2,300 for the year.

She is planning on treating university "like a nine 'til five", studying on campus every day between classes.

But it will sometimes mean missing out on seeing friends in the evening at the Taylor Swift society.

"If I've been away from home since 06:00, I wouldn't really have any motivation," she says.

Faith has chosen to commute rather than picking up a term-time job because she would "rather focus more on the education… while I have the opportunity".

"I'm paying so much money to do this," she adds.

Prof Andy Long, vice chancellor and chief executive at Northumbria University, says around 38% of students commute to his university.

"It's not a lifestyle choice," he says. "[It's] an additional burden that students having the traditional university experience simply don't have to deal with."

Northumbria University is holding dedicated freshers events to build a sense of community among commuter students this term, and is looking into whether contact hours can be condensed into fewer days to help them and those with part-time jobs.

He says, like other universities, students have been able to apply for deadline extensions because of working commitments in recent years, and have the option to catch up on recorded lectures when they can't attend in person.

"It's supposed to reinforce what you have learned in the lecture, but obviously for those students, that may not be a choice for them," he says.

Prof Long wants the Department for Education (DfE) to reintroduce maintenance grants in England when it publishes its post-16 white paper this autumn.

He says the amount that students can borrow for living costs should increase with inflation, and the household income threshold that determines which students receive the maximum maintenance loan should rise "significantly".

Skills minister Jacqui Smith says the government "recognises that too many students are facing real financial hardship".

She said she was "determined to deliver change" and that the DfE's white paper, would "soon set out how we plan to improve access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds".

Other students got in touch with the BBC via Your Voice, Your BBC News to share their financial concerns.

Josh Anderton is from Doncaster and studies politics and international relations at Lancaster University. He says he is considering walking for two hours a day to get to and from lectures because of bus fares. His maintenance loan covers about two thirds of his rent.

"I buy a bus pass, but it's just getting more and more expensive," he says, adding that it now costs £150 a term. "I think I'd rather walk at this point."

Ava Wylde, 19, has had to fork out on train fares to get from her family home in Southampton to Durham, where she studies environmental geoscience and works in a corner shop to pay her rent, as her maintenance loan only covers just over half of what she needs.

She enjoys her job, but feels like she's had less time to consolidate her notes since taking it on.

It can sometimes mean turning down events with her rugby club or nights out with friends - many of whom don't have term-time jobs, though some are trying to find one.

"Even if you know that you shouldn't be going out and spending money in the evenings, you really want to - and your friends want you to," she says. "It's quite hard to tell your friends, 'No, sorry, I can't'."

Tianna had to leave her fast-food job at the end of last term because she wasn't allowed to pause it for the summer holidays and come back.

She worked in a night club in Nottingham over the summer and hopes to get a job in a pub in Newcastle this year.

"I'm not doing [night club work] in uni because it's insane hours," Tianna says. "I literally finish at 04:00 - I'm not doing that when I've got to get up the next day."

Additional reporting by Kris Bramwell and Bernadette McCague

More than a decade after Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mother, was killed in Kenya, allegedly by a British soldier, a Kenyan court has issued an arrest warrant for a UK national. If there is an extradition, it would be the first time a serving or former British soldier is sent abroad to face trial for the murder of a civilian – a move her friends would welcome.

On the night she went missing on 31 March 2012, Agnes begged her childhood friends Friend A and Friend B to come out with her.*

Agnes and Friend A were both new mothers, both 21-years-old, both wanting to let off some steam.

Friend B was eager to go out too, and agreed to meet them at the bar at Lions Court Hotel - located in the business district of Nanyuki, a market town in central Kenya, around 124 miles (200km) north of Nairobi.

That evening, Friend B's mother agreed to watch over Agnes's five-month-old daughter for a small babysitting fee. With childcare settled, Agnes and Friend A set off, making their first stop at a bar called Sherlock's.

"There were a lot of muzungu (white) men there," says Friend A. "I remember some were in plain clothes and some were in army clothes."

The British Army has a permanent training support base in Nanyuki, and white men, many of them soldiers, were a familiar presence. Locals referred to them as Johnnies, a nickname that carries unsavoury connotations.

"They made me uncomfortable because I'd heard bad things about muzungu men," Friend A recalls.

"Muzungus don't treat us Kenyan women well," adds Friend B. "Johnnies, especially, mistreat us. They disrespect us."

For young women like Agnes, the risks of engaging with these men were often weighed against the struggle to make ends meet.

"When women are financially desperate, they will do almost anything to survive," Friend A says. "I don't believe Agnes was a sex worker though. I never saw her do that. She was very poor."

Her friends say that on a good day Agnes would earn around 300 Kenyan shillings - less than £1 ($1.35). On a bad day there was nothing at all, and she relied on the goodwill of her loving elder sister.

Agnes did not have any financial support from the father of her child, and her friends say she was constantly trying to earn money, mostly working in salons and braiding people's hair, at times turning to more unconventional means.

One method, Friend A recalls, was simple: Agnes would befriend someone who offered to buy her a drink, then quietly ask the bartender to skip the drink and hand her the cash instead.

At Sherlock's bar that night, Friend A was scrolling through Facebook when she noticed Agnes in what appeared to be a tense exchange with a white man.

"When I approached her to ask her if she was OK, she told me to go to Lions Court as planned and that she would join me shortly."

Friend A continued on to the hotel, where Friend B and several others were already dancing. A crowd of white men was also present.

Agnes joined them a little while afterwards.

She told her friends she had "cheekily" tried to take a muzungu's wallet, but a bouncer had intervened. The matter seemed resolved, her friends say. And to her friends, Agnes seemed relaxed.

"She was in high spirits," says Friend A. "She was joking around."

At around midnight, Friend A left for home, leaving Friend B and Agnes and their friends dancing.

"The muzungus were buying us drinks, and Agnes was returning them to the bar in exchange for money," Friend B adds. The two started mingling with other friends. A little while later, Friend B says she saw Agnes leave the bar with one of the white men and assumed that they had come to a consensual arrangement. Other reports say that Agnes was seen leaving with two men.

The next morning, Friend B went to Agnes's house and saw her worried sister, who told her that Agnes had not returned. She rushed to her own mother's house, where she found Agnes's baby still in her care.

By early evening when Agnes had still not returned, Friend B and another friend went to Nanyuki police station to report her missing, and return the baby to Agnes's sister.

For days, Agnes's friends searched for her. At Lions Court, a watchman told them there had been "a big fight" in one of the hotel rooms that weekend and a window had been broken.

Nearly three months later, Agnes's body was discovered in a septic tank near the hotel. She had been stabbed. Friend B and another friend went to the mortuary to see Agnes's body.

"I felt terrible," Friend B says. "I couldn't imagine something like this could happen."

It would take years before Agnes Wanjiru's murder drew wider attention.

Kenyan judge Njeri Thuku concluded after an inquest in 2019 that Agnes had been murdered by one or two British soldiers. The Sunday Times exclusively revealed that Agnes's killing, allegedly by a British soldier, was well-known amongst the troops in Nanyuki. The publication reported that the soldier was struck off by the army but continues to live freely in the UK.

"I believe that there are many men responsible for Agnes's death," Friend A says. "Many men know what happened, and many have covered it up."

Momentum built again in 2024 when Open Democracy reported that the British Army had failed to discipline soldiers for paying for sex despite such conduct being explicitly banned in 2022, following the allegations involving UK troops in Kenya.

This prompted an internal investigation in August 2025, which revealed that some soldiers at the base were still engaging in transactional sex with women, many of whom were vulnerable, coerced, or trafficked into sex work.

In April this year, UK Defence Secretary John Healey met Agnes's family, in Kenya to offer his condolences and issue a statement saying the British government "will continue to do everything we can to help the family secure the justice they deserve".

On 16 September, a Kenyan High Court issued an arrest warrant for a British national suspected of murdering Agnes Wanjiru.

If extradited, it would be the first time a serving or former British soldier is sent abroad to stand trial for the killing of a civilian.

"It is highly welcome and a positive step towards the arch of justice," says Kelvin Kubai, a lawyer at the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action. "However the battle isn't yet won, given the legal hurdles of extradition proceedings, and we hope the relevant government institutions of both states shall continue cooperating to meet the ends of justice."

Agnes's niece, Esther Njoki, has created a GoFundMe page in order to raise money to support the family, travel to the UK and create more awareness about the murder of her aunt.

"We need to push for financial security for Agnes's daughter," Esther says, adding that she is now a teenager.

And Agnes's friends agree that justice has been delayed too long.

"The British Army cannot keep ignoring the murder of our friend," Friend A says. "We want justice for Agnes and her daughter."

The BBC has asked the Ministry of Defence for comment.

*The BBC has changed the name of all people listed as witnesses by a Kenyan High Court

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