A statue of Mahatma Gandhi is being unveiled in London's Parliament Square on Saturday.

The sculpture is inspired by photographs of the civil rights leader outside 10 Downing Street in 1931.

It has been funded by more than a million pounds in donations to the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust.

Gandhi will be the first Indian, and the only person never to have been in public office, to be honoured with a statue in the square.

His memorial will stand alongside those of Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The 9ft-high (2.75m) bronze sculpture has been kept under wraps but Asian network reporter Poonam Taneja was given an exclusive glimpse by the artist Philip Jackson.