A 16 year old charged with the murder of a student at Richmond College is to go on trial at the Old Bailey in January.

The victim, Hazrat Wali, aged 18, who was a refugee from Afghanistan, was stabbed to death on a playing field in Craneford Way, Twickenham, on October 12, 2021.

The teenager was studying construction and building at Richmond upon Thames College because he wanted to help rebuild his home country.

Hazrat arrived in the UK in 2017 as an unaccompanied asylum seeker. He had fled Afghanistan with his twin brother at 12 in search of a better life.

Their father had died before they were born and their mother died when the boys were two years old. They grew up in the care of their aunt.

The twins became separated on the long journey to Europe and Hazrat later heard that his brother had been deported back to Afghanistan..

Hazrat was given asylum in Vienna, where he lived with a foster family for a year and a half, before coming to the UK where he had family.

The accused cannot be identified because of his age.