Shamima Begum’s family has hired one of the UK’s top human rights lawyers whose clients have included hate preacher Abu Qatada.

Gareth Peirce, once described as the lawyer of choice “for every accused jihadist and IRA suspect”, took over the former Bethnal Green school girl’s case last week, the Telegraph can reveal.

It marks a significant development in the fight to bring the teenager back to Britain and will be deemed a timely coup for her family, coming as this newspaper revealed that Begum, according to sources, had served in the Islamic State’s “morality police” and had tried to recruit other young women to join the jihadist group.

She was allowed to carry a Kalashnikov rifle and earned a reputation as a strict "enforcer" of Isil's laws, such as women's dress codes, sources claimed.

Ms Peirce, 79, of legal firm Birnberg Peirce, replaces Tasnime Akunjee, who had been working pro bono on the family's behalf since Begum fled to Syria in 2015.