21/01/2016

:00:00. > :00:08.Hello it's Thursday, it's 9.15, I'm Victoria Derbyshire,

:00:09. > :00:15.A "deferential culture" with "untouchable stars".

:00:16. > :00:23.A leaked report into abuse by Jimmy Savile criticises the BBC.

:00:24. > :00:28.Ten years after he was poisoned with a radioactive cup of tea

:00:29. > :00:32.in a London hotel, we'll get the conclusions an inquiry

:00:33. > :00:35.into the murder of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko.

:00:36. > :00:39.Was he killed on the orders of President Putin?

:00:40. > :00:45.The news is due in about 15 minutes time, do stay tuned to hear it first

:00:46. > :01:03.I need to respect and see what I can do for his memory.

:01:04. > :01:10.We'll hear from a close friend of Mr Litvinenko -

:01:11. > :01:17.who read this statement outside the hospital after he died.

:01:18. > :01:22.It will reverberate Mr Putin in your ears for the rest of your life.

:01:23. > :01:24.Hundreds of primary school children in need of deradicalisation.

:01:25. > :01:29.A BBC investigation finds more than 400 have been referred

:01:30. > :01:52.to a government programme in the past four years.

:01:53. > :01:58.We are expecting the findings into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko.

:01:59. > :02:01.He was poisoned with polonium in 20106 and the issue of whether the

:02:02. > :02:04.Russian state carried out the killing is expected to form a

:02:05. > :02:08.crucial part of the report released very shortly. We'll bring that to

:02:09. > :02:11.you as soon as it happens. Get in touch throughout the programme.

:02:12. > :02:19.Texts will be charged at the standard network rate. First, Jimmy

:02:20. > :02:23.Savile abused young people for a period lasting over 60 years and a

:02:24. > :02:27.lot took place at the BBC, particularly in the '60s and '70s.

:02:28. > :02:34.Today a draft copy of a report asking how it went on for so long

:02:35. > :02:37.undetected has been leaked. It's revealed 61 incidents of sexual

:02:38. > :02:42.assault took place at the Corporation, including four rapes

:02:43. > :02:47.and one attempted rape. It says abuse took place at virtually every

:02:48. > :02:52.one of the BBC premises. Dame Janet Smith's report says it was largely

:02:53. > :03:05.down to a deaf Rennestial culture at the corporation.

:03:06. > :03:12.-- deferential. Dame Janet concludes that because no-one in a position of

:03:13. > :03:17.authority, none of the bosses were told about the abuse, it could not

:03:18. > :03:21.have been stopped. The leaked report also warns that a child predator

:03:22. > :03:25.could go undiscovered at the broadcaster even today. Dame Janet

:03:26. > :03:31.Smith's review was set up in October 2012 by the BBC to carry out an

:03:32. > :03:38.impartial investigation of the BBC during the years it employed Savile.

:03:39. > :03:40.The review team say they are disappointed with the leaked

:03:41. > :03:44.extracts, they say they are out-of-date, shouldn't be relied

:03:45. > :03:47.upon in any circumstances and the official report will be published in

:03:48. > :03:55.a few weeks' time. In a moment we'll talk to the presenter of Radio

:03:56. > :04:03.Four's Media Show who's looked at the report. Also we have a lawyer

:04:04. > :04:07.representing 168 Savile victims. David Sillito, go through some of

:04:08. > :04:12.the extracts that have been leaked? There are some caveats. Dame Janet

:04:13. > :04:18.Smith's review says it's a draft report and changes have been made.

:04:19. > :04:22.This final review will come out in the next six weeks. But I think we

:04:23. > :04:25.can be pretty certain that this is a clear summary of a lot of the

:04:26. > :04:29.evidence that's been presented to her and it goes through it. 61

:04:30. > :04:34.incidents of sexual assaults, four rapes, one attempted rape. It says

:04:35. > :04:40.the incidents took place in virtually every one of the BBC

:04:41. > :04:48.premises that Savile worked over the years. That is the '60s through to

:04:49. > :04:53.the '90s. Top of the Pops girls were exposed to moral danger she says and

:04:54. > :04:58.she goes through essentially year-by-year what did people know

:04:59. > :05:03.and do about it? We hear about incidents not connected to Savile

:05:04. > :05:09.but allegations of sexual assault, that it appears, well, the

:05:10. > :05:13.investigation she to that was wholly inadequate. It talks about the

:05:14. > :05:17.moment Savile was interviewed by BBC bosses, two of them put to him

:05:18. > :05:22.allegations about young girls, him taking them back to his flat and it

:05:23. > :05:25.said, well, yes, they did ask these questions, they didn't go any

:05:26. > :05:30.further. Because he would have said no of course I didn't do that. They

:05:31. > :05:33.took the denials at face value. So the key thing is, what are the

:05:34. > :05:39.criticisms? Remember, this is a draft report but what it says here

:05:40. > :05:46.is it appears, I do not think the BBC can be criticised for failing to

:05:47. > :05:50.uncover Savile's do haviancy. In essence, she's saying no-one got to

:05:51. > :05:58.the truth of Savile while he was alive -- David Davis eviancy. She

:05:59. > :06:06.does though say the BBC failed to examine Savile's personality

:06:07. > :06:10.critically given the rumours. They talk about a dark side to Savile,

:06:11. > :06:15.people feeling queasy, seeing him with a prelickion for hanging around

:06:16. > :06:18.young teenage girls, why was he allowed to carry on working without

:06:19. > :06:21.more questions being asked, especially given he was working with

:06:22. > :06:26.children. What is the BBC saying today? There's been a statement

:06:27. > :06:29.issued just in the last few minutes made on camera by the Director

:06:30. > :06:35.General Tony Hall which I hope we can see now. Firstly my thoughts and

:06:36. > :06:40.all of our thoughts must be and are with the victims of Jimmy Savile and

:06:41. > :06:46.their families. What happened was a dark chapter in the history of the

:06:47. > :06:49.BBC. Dame Janet's report will be invaluable in helping us to

:06:50. > :06:52.understand what happened and to help ensure that we do everything

:06:53. > :06:57.possible to ensure it doesn't happen again. The review has said that the

:06:58. > :07:02.copy leaked to the media was an early draft which has changed

:07:03. > :07:07.considerably, so while I'm impatient to learn those lessons, the

:07:08. > :07:12.responsible thing must be to act on the final report which we've not yet

:07:13. > :07:16.received. The review has said they expect the report to be published

:07:17. > :07:22.within six weeks and we hope it will be published as swiftly as possible.

:07:23. > :07:31.Thank you very much David. Let's talk to Steve Hewlett of the Media

:07:32. > :07:34.Show and Liz from Slater Gordon solicitors, representing 168

:07:35. > :07:41.victims. How do you react to the leaks then? I don't accept the lack

:07:42. > :07:48.of accountability. Dame Janet talks about 107 witnesses giving evidence

:07:49. > :07:51.of what they saw, rumours, suspicions, feeling queasy and

:07:52. > :07:55.unwell at what they were witnessing and, for her not to find that

:07:56. > :07:59.management didn't know what was going on, it just beggars belief.

:08:00. > :08:05.For that not to have permeated up the chain, I just don't accept it.

:08:06. > :08:13.OK that, is interesting. Steve, Dame Janet is pointing to Tullture in the

:08:14. > :08:18.BBC at the time. Do you accept that? -- the culture in the BBC. Her view

:08:19. > :08:23.could not be firmer. She says no evidence that anyone in a position

:08:24. > :08:27.of authority at the BBC heard or knew of a complaint or concern about

:08:28. > :08:37.Savile that refused to investigate it. She says, I don't think the BBC

:08:38. > :08:44.can be criticised for failing to uncover Savile's sexual deviancy.

:08:45. > :08:47.When Dame Janet sat down to do the inquiry she knew what Savile had

:08:48. > :08:51.done, the witnesses knew, we, as readers of this, and members of the

:08:52. > :08:55.economic, we all know roughly what he did as well. As a result, when

:08:56. > :09:00.you know that, it's very, very hard to look at what happened and not

:09:01. > :09:06.you know that, it's very, very hard literally incredulous that it didn't

:09:07. > :09:10.produce a red flag. His autobiography in 1974 Blakes it

:09:11. > :09:14.absolutely plain that he has a desire for sexual contact with women

:09:15. > :09:22.and young girls that would be obviously a red flag. But at the

:09:23. > :09:26.time, no, but this is hindsight speaking. She heard the evidence, I

:09:27. > :09:30.didn't, I agree it seems utterly incredible, but she's heard the

:09:31. > :09:35.witnesses and could not be clearer. And Liz, no-one in the NHS knew,

:09:36. > :09:38.no-one in children's homes knew, so why is it so incredulous to believe

:09:39. > :09:43.that no-one at the top of the BBC knew? Well, because the BBC was the

:09:44. > :09:48.organisation that gave him this power, it was where he was

:09:49. > :09:52.operating, where he was all the time, where there were so many

:09:53. > :09:57.concerns about what he was up to, the whole culture she talks about

:09:58. > :10:03.when you read the section on Top of the Pops, for that not to have

:10:04. > :10:11.permeated upwards and toff caused concern, it's simply astonishing.

:10:12. > :10:14.Dame Janet points out in the extracts that should not be relied

:10:15. > :10:19.upon, she points out that the culture of the BBC was that people

:10:20. > :10:24.did not go high up with those kinds of things and in fact still don't?

:10:25. > :10:29.She describes a key executive, the person who ran Top of the Pops or

:10:30. > :10:36.Jim's Fix It, their primary obsession was to keep the programme

:10:37. > :10:39.running and, unless forced to confront issues about Savile, the

:10:40. > :10:45.line of resistance was not to think that way. We can't put ourselves

:10:46. > :10:50.back into these people's minds, but it's interesting where she says

:10:51. > :10:54."no-one at the BBC would want the Jim 'll Fix It ship to capsize"

:10:55. > :11:00.which is an interesting way of saying, not only was he well-known,

:11:01. > :11:03.his programmes were popular, so the entire organisation was predisposed

:11:04. > :11:06.to look the other way, that is if anything that they could have seen

:11:07. > :11:11.would have appeared to them at the time as it appears to us now as a

:11:12. > :11:16.transparently obvious red flag, something's wrong. You might say of

:11:17. > :11:20.course, his own autobiography in 1974 makes clear his appetite for

:11:21. > :11:23.women and young girls, someone else might point this out but even though

:11:24. > :11:30.it may not have been taken as a red flag to the sort of abuse, the

:11:31. > :11:34.extraordinary levels of abuse we now know he was capable of, was it still

:11:35. > :11:39.proper for him to be doing a show like Top of the Pops surrounded by

:11:40. > :11:41.young girls when he's made it perfectly plain that they are the

:11:42. > :11:50.object of his interest and attention? I think now of course

:11:51. > :11:56.could paedophiles be hiding in the BBC, yes, perhaps they could. Well,

:11:57. > :12:01.Dame Janet Smith says yes, a child predator could still exist in the

:12:02. > :12:06.BBC. Some have suggested to her that aspects of the BBC culture are worse

:12:07. > :12:11.now than they were then, people less likely to come forward and less job

:12:12. > :12:15.security. She said people that spoke to her were deeply worried about

:12:16. > :12:19.being exposed or even having known that they had spoken to her. So

:12:20. > :12:25.there is clearly still a cultural issue. Whether attitudes towards

:12:26. > :12:28.this sort of behaviour however, this overly sexualised behaviour remain

:12:29. > :12:34.the same, I sort of doubt, I think they have kind of changed. How do

:12:35. > :12:38.you react Liz to the fact that Dame Janet says a child predator could be

:12:39. > :12:43.at the BBC today? That is what is most worrying. It's easy to write

:12:44. > :12:48.off Savile as an episode in a by-gone era and where she says that

:12:49. > :12:53.culture of fear still exists that someone could still get away with

:12:54. > :12:57.it, we have to remember that abuse is still going on. That is why we

:12:58. > :13:01.need a change of the law, that's why the Goddard inquiry is so important.

:13:02. > :13:05.We cannot write this off as saying it will never happen again because

:13:06. > :13:08.she's clearly saying it could. From the BBC and the executive's point of

:13:09. > :13:12.view, they are really going to have to address this culture of fear

:13:13. > :13:17.aren't they? They are, that Cesc right, and also, there are two bits

:13:18. > :13:23.to this, she makes the points about the culture of fear and people being

:13:24. > :13:28.unable to speak and whistle-blowing. She doesn't make that as part of her

:13:29. > :13:32.afterthought as to whether it's possible it could happen again. She

:13:33. > :13:37.says there are two factors at play which can't be discounted; it's

:13:38. > :13:40.clear that the sex abusers can be highly manipulative, clever,

:13:41. > :13:46.deceitful so never underestimate them. This is the other point,

:13:47. > :13:58.celebrity power, the reason Savile's held in awe, becomes untouchable, if

:13:59. > :14:03.you like, she thinks, her view is it's more significant now than it

:14:04. > :14:08.was. I think in 1969 there is a case she refers to, an under-age girl

:14:09. > :14:11.complains about being abused by Savile on Top of the Pops and the

:14:12. > :14:14.reaction is, she's escorted from the premises. Now, honestly, I don't

:14:15. > :14:20.think that would happen now, but that's not to say that, you know,

:14:21. > :14:24.the elements that are necessary for this to happen again are there,

:14:25. > :14:26.although I kind of think that attitudes towards this sort of

:14:27. > :14:34.behaviour have changed. Thank you both very much.

:14:35. > :14:42.The news and sport in a moment. We are awaiting the news to do with the

:14:43. > :14:45.answering of the question of why former Russian spy Alexander

:14:46. > :14:50.Litvinenko was killed in London. It happened ten years ago. He was

:14:51. > :14:54.drinking green tea laced with the highly damaging radioactive

:14:55. > :14:59.substance polonium-210. A decade on, we'll find out hopefully why and how

:15:00. > :15:08.the 43-year-old died because of a public inquiry into his murder.

:15:09. > :15:12.Alexander Litvinenko fled Russia from Britain -- fled Russia to

:15:13. > :15:16.Britain. He worked for the British Intelligence Service MI6, so who

:15:17. > :15:18.killed him and who ordered it. Mr Litvinenko himself blamed the

:15:19. > :17:31.President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Everything about polonium 2010 is

:17:32. > :17:40.regulated by the state, its usage is related by the state.

:17:41. > :17:45.Putin and his personal cabal are directly integrated in organised

:17:46. > :17:49.crime, that they are willing to murder those who stand in their way,

:17:50. > :17:58.and that Mr Litvinenko was murdered for that reason.

:17:59. > :18:05.We are expecting the report out in the next five, ten minutes or so,

:18:06. > :18:08.and we are also expecting Alexander Litvinenko's widow to say something

:18:09. > :18:13.on the steps of the Royal Court of Justice. What are you expecting?

:18:14. > :18:18.Hubbub of the most important thing we could expect from today's

:18:19. > :18:23.inquiries is too which extends the Russian state has been in fold in

:18:24. > :18:30.the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. It is obvious this was a murder that

:18:31. > :18:36.the Russian state has always denied, it is their involvement, and the

:18:37. > :18:40.people who are the primary suspect, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun,

:18:41. > :18:45.and there was proved they were involved, even they denied it, they

:18:46. > :18:50.were given protection by the state, they were not extradited by the

:18:51. > :18:56.Russian state, Andrei Lugovoi was even made a member of Parliament, so

:18:57. > :19:00.there is an obvious protection of the suspects by the Russian state.

:19:01. > :19:06.So the inquiries should tell as to which extent it believes that the

:19:07. > :19:09.Russian state was involved. This is probably the most important thing

:19:10. > :19:14.that we should expect from this. Thank you, for the moment, I know

:19:15. > :19:17.you are going to stay with us. We are expecting to hear from the

:19:18. > :19:19.public inquiry in the next few minutes. Let's look at what else is

:19:20. > :19:21.making the news this morning. A leaked draft report

:19:22. > :19:23.into sexual abuse committed by Jimmy Savile at the BBC says

:19:24. > :19:36.the behaviour of star presenters went

:19:37. > :19:37.unchallenged by managers. The inquiry team, led

:19:38. > :19:39.by Dame Janet Smith, says the draft is an old version

:19:40. > :19:42.that can't be relied upon. But there's been a swift response

:19:43. > :19:48.from the top of the BBC. What happened was a dark chapter in

:19:49. > :19:53.the history of the BBC. Dame Janet's report will be invaluable in helping

:19:54. > :19:56.us to understand what happened, and to help ensure that we do everything

:19:57. > :19:59.possible to ensure it doesn't happen again.

:20:00. > :20:01.The inquiry into the killing of former Russian spy

:20:02. > :20:13.Alexander Litvinenko will issue its report shortly.

:20:14. > :20:16.The former intelligence officer, who claimed asylum in the UK,

:20:17. > :20:18.was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London in 2006.

:20:19. > :20:21.The issue of whether the Russian state carried out the killing

:20:22. > :20:23.is expected to form a crucial part of the report,

:20:24. > :20:25.something which is important to the Litvenenko family.

:20:26. > :20:29.It is probably one of the most important thing is to establish, not

:20:30. > :20:31.only for us personally, to see who the trail leads to.

:20:32. > :20:34.A second woman has been charged with the murder of Sadie Hartley,

:20:35. > :20:36.the businesswoman from Lancashire who was found dead at her home

:20:37. > :20:40.A 55-year-old woman from Blackburn will appear in court

:20:41. > :20:44.Hundreds of children under the age of 10 have been referred

:20:45. > :20:46.to the Government's deradicalisation programme, according to figures

:20:47. > :20:52.A total of 415 children in England and Wales have gone

:20:53. > :20:54.through the Channel scheme, which aims to steer people

:20:55. > :21:02.Star Wars fans will have to wait a bit longer than expected

:21:03. > :21:07.Disney have announced that Episode 8 won't be in cinemas until the end

:21:08. > :21:10.of 2017, around seven months later than planned.

:21:11. > :21:12.No reason has been given, but there's speculation

:21:13. > :21:23.Let's catch up with all the sport now and join Ore.

:21:24. > :21:30.Good morning. The two British number one 's are making things look very

:21:31. > :21:34.easy at the Australian open. You would expect Andy Murray, the world

:21:35. > :21:38.number two, to breeze through the early rounds in any grand slam, but

:21:39. > :21:43.against the man with the fastest serve in Kenneth Branagh Samuel

:21:44. > :21:51.Groth, he made him look very small -- the fastest serve in tennis. As

:21:52. > :21:54.well, Johanna Konta, playing in her first ever main draw at the

:21:55. > :22:00.Australian open, is also through to the third round after beating her

:22:01. > :22:03.opponent in straight sets. Two British players into the third

:22:04. > :22:09.round, things looking good. We will talk about the FA Cup as well, we

:22:10. > :22:13.finally have the fourth round set up, Liverpool in there after a 3-1

:22:14. > :22:17.win over Exeter City, but also Tottenham are there as well, they

:22:18. > :22:21.played Leicester City three times in the last ten days and after a draw

:22:22. > :22:27.and a Leicester win, it is finally time for Tottenham to get the better

:22:28. > :22:31.of Leicester as well. 20 more on those at 10am.

:22:32. > :22:34.-- plenty more. Let's bring you this breaking news to do with the

:22:35. > :22:38.conclusions of the year-long public inquiry into the killing of the

:22:39. > :22:45.former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The inquiry has found

:22:46. > :22:49.that his murder was an operation of the Russian security service, the

:22:50. > :22:54.FSB, and the inquiry goes on to say the killing was probably approved by

:22:55. > :23:01.President Putin as well as the then director of the FSB. Let's just

:23:02. > :23:06.repeat that, the independent inquiry into the killing of Alexander

:23:07. > :23:09.Litvinenko in a London hotel in 2006 was an operation of the Russian

:23:10. > :23:15.security service, the FSB, and probably approved by President Putin

:23:16. > :23:22.of Russia as well as the then director of the FSB. That is the

:23:23. > :23:27.conclusion from Sir Robert Owen, he is the independent judge who has

:23:28. > :23:41.been looking into the killing of Mr Litvinenko. Let's hear from his

:23:42. > :23:44.widow, Marina. Deliberately administrated polonium-210 to Mr

:23:45. > :23:52.Litvinenko, intending it would kill him. He was quite sure that Mr

:23:53. > :23:59.Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun did so under the direction of others. The judge

:24:00. > :24:06.has found to a high degree of probability that the FSB directed Mr

:24:07. > :24:13.Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun to murder him, and also found as a fact their boss

:24:14. > :24:20.Vladimir Putin and the director of the FSB at the time personally

:24:21. > :24:27.approved assassination. I am of course very pleased that the words

:24:28. > :24:34.my husband spoke on his deathbed, when he accused Mr Putin of his

:24:35. > :24:41.murder, have been proved true in an English court with a high standard

:24:42. > :24:47.of independency and fairness. But now it is time for David Cameron,

:24:48. > :24:52.I'm calling immediately for exclusion from the UK of all Russian

:24:53. > :25:03.intelligence operatives, whether from the FSB or other Russian

:25:04. > :25:14.agencies. I'm also calling for the position of targeted economic

:25:15. > :25:19.sanctions against named individuals including Mr Putin. I received a

:25:20. > :25:26.letter last night from the Home Secretary promising action. It is

:25:27. > :25:35.unthinkable that the Prime Minister would do nothing in the face of

:25:36. > :25:44.damaging findings of Sir Robert Owen. Thank you very much.

:25:45. > :25:48.Alexander Litvinenko's widow clearly calling on David Cameron, the Prime

:25:49. > :25:53.Minister, to expel all Russian intelligence officials from the UK,

:25:54. > :25:55.and also calling for economic sanctions, presumably the freezing

:25:56. > :26:02.of bank accounts, for various individuals.

:26:03. > :26:04.So let's talk now to our correspondent Richard Galpin,

:26:05. > :26:07.who was one of those journalists allowed to view the report before

:26:08. > :26:15.It is worth going through the conclusions from Sir Robert Owen.

:26:16. > :26:20.Yes, absolutely. This is the report we have been looking at over the

:26:21. > :26:24.past 1.5 hours, it has taken ten years to get to this very, very

:26:25. > :26:29.important point. Alexander Litvinenko was killed in November

:26:30. > :26:34.2006, and only now do we have the results of the inquiry. The

:26:35. > :26:39.absolutely key quote from Sir Robert Owen, the retired judge who chaired

:26:40. > :26:43.the inquiry, is that he said, taking into account all the evidence and

:26:44. > :26:48.analysis, and what he means by that is also the closed evidence, that is

:26:49. > :26:54.from the British intelligence services, from MI6, presumably, in

:26:55. > :27:01.which he says, I find the operation to kill Alexander Litvinenko was

:27:02. > :27:07.probably approved by the head of Russia's main intelligence agency,

:27:08. > :27:12.the FSB, and very close to that amid Putin, and by that may Putin

:27:13. > :27:17.himself. So base is very, very significant, the fact that Mr Putin

:27:18. > :27:21.has been named in this report as probably approving, the keyword

:27:22. > :27:27.there is probably. He cannot be sure about it, but he says probably. What

:27:28. > :27:32.he is sure about in his conclusions is that Mr Litvinenko was poisoned

:27:33. > :27:38.in the bar of the hotel in Mayfair in central London in 2006, that he

:27:39. > :27:42.was deliberately poisoned and it was carried out by Andrei Lugovoi and

:27:43. > :27:47.Dmitry Kovtun, who, for many years, have been the two chief suspects,

:27:48. > :27:53.and of course we know Andrei Lugovoi had been in the FSB, in the

:27:54. > :27:58.intelligence agency of the Russians, and had also been in the federal

:27:59. > :28:02.protection service, also within the kind of intelligence apparatus, and

:28:03. > :28:10.had strong links with the FSB. He goes on to say that the killing, the

:28:11. > :28:15.poisoning in London, was under the direction of the FSB, the

:28:16. > :28:19.intelligence agency. So, some very, very significant statements from

:28:20. > :28:25.this inquiry. Tell us more about what the motives would be for the

:28:26. > :28:32.murder of Alexander Litvinenko? That is a very good question, and

:28:33. > :28:39.there are multiple motives will stop one of the key moment for Alexander

:28:40. > :28:45.Litvinenko was back in 1998 when he went to Mr Putin, at the time

:28:46. > :28:51.himself at the FSB, and complained about what he alleged was corruption

:28:52. > :28:57.in the FSB, and the fact, Mr Litvinenko, that is, and the fact he

:28:58. > :29:01.had been ordered to assassinate a senior politician, Boris Berezovsky,

:29:02. > :29:07.who of course came into X file here. According to Mr Leben Inc's account,

:29:08. > :29:14.that went down very badly, Mr Putin did not react or do anything about

:29:15. > :29:17.it -- Mr Litvinenko's account. Instead, Mr Litvinenko found himself

:29:18. > :29:22.accused of various charges and put in prison, and after that he fled to

:29:23. > :29:28.the UK. That was regarded by the FSB, we believe, as betrayal, for

:29:29. > :29:34.which the punishment is very severe, including being killed. Also, the

:29:35. > :29:38.fact that when Mr Litvinenko came to this country, fled here and became a

:29:39. > :29:44.British citizen, he also started working with MI6. We know that, from

:29:45. > :29:50.the inquiry, he received ?2000 a month from the MI6 for work

:29:51. > :29:56.including investigating links between Russian organised crime in

:29:57. > :30:02.Spain and officials back in Russia. Again, that would be regarded by the

:30:03. > :30:07.FSB and top people in Russia as another betrayal. Then there were

:30:08. > :30:13.very personal allegations made by Mr Litvinenko against President Putin.

:30:14. > :30:18.He accused him of being, and the FSB, of being behind a series of

:30:19. > :30:23.means in Moscow in 1999 which were blamed on Chechen separatists and

:30:24. > :30:26.led to the second Chechen war, and the allegation made by Mr Litvinenko

:30:27. > :30:31.is that this was done deliberately by Mr Putin said that he would have

:30:32. > :30:35.an excuse for another war in Chechnya and cement his position in

:30:36. > :30:38.power, and indeed he became president shortly after that.

:30:39. > :30:43.Another serious personal allegation made against Mr Putin was that he

:30:44. > :30:47.claimed Mr Putin was a paedophile. Of course, the Kremlin strongly

:30:48. > :30:50.denied all of these allegations, but he made a series of very serious

:30:51. > :30:51.claims which would have been regarded as absolute betrayal by the

:30:52. > :31:01.authorities in Russia. Does Robert Owen make any

:31:02. > :31:05.recommendations? His wife's called for the expulsion of all

:31:06. > :31:11.intelligence officials and economic sanctions. What does Sir Robert Owen

:31:12. > :31:16.say? I haven't seen that. I couldn't find any recommendations, I'm not

:31:17. > :31:19.sure whether I just missed it, but I haven't seen any recommendations,

:31:20. > :31:25.but we are expecting a statement from Sir Robert Owen in about 15-20

:31:26. > :31:30.minutes, then we'll perhaps know more clearly what he's recommending

:31:31. > :31:34.because that is part of his inquiry. This whole inquiry was set up to try

:31:35. > :31:36.and reach some kind of conclusions as to whether there was

:31:37. > :31:40.Russian-state responsibility for this murder but also what action

:31:41. > :31:44.should be taken, what should be done now. Obvious they is going to be an

:31:45. > :31:50.absolutely key question as to whether the British Government will

:31:51. > :31:54.react to this in the form of taking some kind of sanctions because of

:31:55. > :31:57.what he's managed to conclude. I think certainly the mood music, we

:31:58. > :32:01.don't know of course, Theresa May is due to give a statement in

:32:02. > :32:05.Parliament we think at some stage today because the report has now

:32:06. > :32:10.been handed over to Parliament, but one of the kind of issues now is

:32:11. > :32:19.that the whole relationship's swung back. The relationship with Russia

:32:20. > :32:23.is very, very bad but there is the issue of cooperation with Russia

:32:24. > :32:28.over the whole massive problem of Syria, not just the whole issue of

:32:29. > :32:32.the civil war but also in dealing with so-called Islamic state. I

:32:33. > :32:38.think some people have expressed concern that maybe Britain will not

:32:39. > :32:42.be too much looking to actually impose more sanctions at now what is

:32:43. > :32:49.a very delicate time in terms of diplomacy over Syria. Thank you very

:32:50. > :32:50.much Richard for that detailed summary of the report out in the

:32:51. > :32:53.last few minutes. We are due to hear shortly

:32:54. > :32:56.from Sir Robert Owen, who has chaired the inquiry

:32:57. > :32:58.since January 2015, at the Royal Courts of Justice

:32:59. > :33:01.in Central London, we'll of course Let's talk now a close friend

:33:02. > :33:07.of Alexnader Litvinenko, Alex Goldfarb, who was a close

:33:08. > :33:10.friend of Alexander Litvinenko and who was interviewed

:33:11. > :33:20.for the inquiry. How do you react to the year-long

:33:21. > :33:27.investigation, it concludes that your friend's murder was "probably"

:33:28. > :33:34.approved by Vladimir Putin? Yes. I think it's a proper and fair finding

:33:35. > :33:43.because nobody in the Russian hierarchy would dare to order such

:33:44. > :33:50.murder without Mr Putin's approval. This finding actually names an

:33:51. > :34:05.ultimate justice. As you remember, on his death bed, Sascha Litvinenko

:34:06. > :34:12.named Mr Putin as the probable person and now it's become a fact.

:34:13. > :34:22.The two prime suspects, former Russian bodyguard, Andrei Lugovoi

:34:23. > :34:29.and the Russian army veteran Dmitri cover tun. -- Kovtun. Is there any

:34:30. > :34:35.possibility of them being extradited? The Russians refused to

:34:36. > :34:42.extradite them, although they have been requested to do so seven, eight

:34:43. > :34:48.years ago. So I think now, with the legal decision to that effect, the

:34:49. > :34:55.British Government should go to the Security Council and demand that

:34:56. > :35:01.Russia extradite the perpetrators, provide all the information and also

:35:02. > :35:08.pay compensation to the victims. This is the approach which was taken

:35:09. > :35:12.after the Lockerbie bombings with regard to Gaddafi and I think it's

:35:13. > :35:16.absolutely appropriate in this case. Britain should go to the UN Security

:35:17. > :35:21.Council to get a resolution to enable this extradition, is that

:35:22. > :35:36.what you mean? That's right. OK. What chance of that happening? In

:35:37. > :35:40.this situation, the only way to act for the West in general, the UK in

:35:41. > :35:48.particular is to draw a line and make it absolutely clear to Russia

:35:49. > :35:54.that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated. Everybody should be

:35:55. > :35:59.used to that end, including the international pressure, such as the

:36:00. > :36:07.Security Council and the unilateral action here.

:36:08. > :36:11.You have heard S, Marina demand expulsion of all intelligence

:36:12. > :36:18.officers from the UK and the introduction of targeted sanctions

:36:19. > :36:22.of people who were responsible for this, including Mr Putin and

:36:23. > :36:29.including the head of the FSB at the time. Can I put to you a couple of

:36:30. > :36:34.comments being made by our audience as we report this right now. They

:36:35. > :36:39.say Alexander Litvinenko was a former Russian spy, here as a

:36:40. > :36:45.British citizen, he worked for MI6. He was a double agent, should he not

:36:46. > :36:52.have expected something like this? No. Well, he was never a double

:36:53. > :37:00.agent in the sense that MI6 started talking to him three years after he

:37:01. > :37:06.arrived to the UK and got asylum here. That is a very fair point. But

:37:07. > :37:12.the work that he was involved in, it was dangerous work in this country?

:37:13. > :37:16.Oh, well, yes, it was very dangerous, particularly his work

:37:17. > :37:22.against Russian Mafia in Spain. We believe that the motive for this

:37:23. > :37:31.murder was the imminent appearance of Mr Litvinenko as a witness in the

:37:32. > :37:35.Spanish investigation which linked to Russian Mafia figures in the

:37:36. > :37:40.immediate circle of Mr Putin and him personally. It's to prevent him

:37:41. > :37:50.being a witness in this investigation in Madrid that they

:37:51. > :37:55.decided to take him out. Mr Litvinenko on his death bed

:37:56. > :38:01.pinpointed the fact that the two prime suspects who've now been

:38:02. > :38:06.confirmed, Lugovoi and Kuvton were the people who murdered him in that

:38:07. > :38:12.London hotel on the orders, he said, on his death bed, of Vladimir Putin.

:38:13. > :38:15.We have Sir Robert Owen saying probably approved by Vladimir Putin.

:38:16. > :38:19.On a personal level for you, what is it like today to hear confirmation

:38:20. > :38:28.of what Mr Litvinenko said himself ten years ago as he lay dying? Well,

:38:29. > :38:35.I was the one who read his death bed statement in front of the hospital

:38:36. > :38:45.almost ten years ago. At the time we didn't even know about polonium. So

:38:46. > :38:51.it was tremendously important to have his death bed statement

:38:52. > :39:01.confirmed now by the inquiry and for me it's a kind of, the debt I had to

:39:02. > :39:06.pay to his tribute, to his memory. You see, he was one of the first

:39:07. > :39:12.people who tried to alert the West to the real nature of Putin's regime

:39:13. > :39:23.and now it's here for everyone to see that he was right. I'm receiving

:39:24. > :39:27.this from Andrei Lugovoi, his first comment on the release of the

:39:28. > :39:31.conclusions from Sir Robert Owen this morning, he calls the

:39:32. > :39:37.accusations against him absurd, I'm sure you will not be surprised by

:39:38. > :39:43.that, but your reaction? It's true that he should not come here and

:39:44. > :39:48.face the charges and the answer the charges in the criminal court,

:39:49. > :39:57.otherwise he's a murderer who is hiding behind the dictatorial regime

:39:58. > :40:00.who sent him here and all of his statements discounted. Thank you

:40:01. > :40:10.very much. Much more reaction to come. Alexander Kan is with us and

:40:11. > :40:14.Professor Paddy Regan, an expert in the poison used to kill Alexander

:40:15. > :40:24.Litvinenko. Alexander Kan, your reaction? This is a very strong

:40:25. > :40:29.indication of what the supporters have been saying for years, along

:40:30. > :40:32.with Alexander Litvinenko himself. It's been nearly ten years since

:40:33. > :40:38.Alexander Litvinenko was assassinated here in London and now

:40:39. > :40:46.it looks like the accusations have been vindicated by the High Court

:40:47. > :40:52.and Sir Robert Owen, although with a little caveat "probably". So now of

:40:53. > :41:00.course, the ball is in the British Government's court. How it would

:41:01. > :41:05.react, whether it would listen to what Alexander Litvinenko has been

:41:06. > :41:10.saying to appeal to all the Russian intelligence officers, that's very

:41:11. > :41:18.likely an outcome. What is a delicate issue, is to extend the

:41:19. > :41:21.fine balance of Russian British relations which have been strained

:41:22. > :41:29.over the last years, how seriously the British Government will dare to

:41:30. > :41:32.move forward in imposing the new sanctions on especially the Russian

:41:33. > :41:37.President. Do you think it's possible to separate the Litvinenko

:41:38. > :41:40.affair from wider relationing with Russia because, as Richard Galpin

:41:41. > :41:44.said, Britain needs Russia's cooperation in trying to defeat

:41:45. > :41:48.Islamic state? This is a very delicate point, a very fine line

:41:49. > :41:51.that the British Government will have to tread. This is the huge

:41:52. > :41:57.dilemma now for the British Government. It will be very, very

:41:58. > :42:02.difficult. Some sort of actions will be absolutely necessary and I'm

:42:03. > :42:05.certain it will come forward. What kind of action and how far will the

:42:06. > :42:10.British Government go, we'll have to wait and see. Professor Paddy Regan,

:42:11. > :42:20.thank you for coming on the programme. The substance used to

:42:21. > :42:24.gradually poison Alexander Litvinenko is polonium-210, when

:42:25. > :42:33.ingested what does it do to your organs, your tissue? Well, first of

:42:34. > :42:37.all, all polonium, all types, are radioactive, so it's mentioned as...

:42:38. > :42:43.There are about 25 poloniums aren't there? Yes, but it releases energy

:42:44. > :42:49.by the emission of a sub atomic alpha particle and that dumps a huge

:42:50. > :42:54.amount of energy into biological tissue over a short range. In a

:42:55. > :42:58.nutshell, if the polonium is spread around the body through the blood

:42:59. > :43:05.stream, it puts a layer of this material, if you like, and

:43:06. > :43:08.effectively it's a little machine gunfiring high energy particles

:43:09. > :43:11.which can kill a biological cell. They don't travel very far, but if

:43:12. > :43:15.it hits the cell, it will kill it. OK, is it right that a microgram of

:43:16. > :43:21.this stuff, so the size of a speck of dust would be certain to kill if

:43:22. > :43:30.swallowed? Well, if it was diluted, probably. A microgram sounds tiny

:43:31. > :43:36.but that has an enormous number of atoms of polonium in it, a really

:43:37. > :43:41.big number, so one with about 15 zeros after it. So each one would

:43:42. > :43:50.have had to have been made sin they wantically so there is an industrial

:43:51. > :44:00.process that would be required to create that amount. If you took a

:44:01. > :44:11.bucket of sand from the Copacabana beach in Brazil, you would have 200

:44:12. > :44:19.million specks of it. It was discovered by Marie Curie. But you

:44:20. > :44:27.need to a nuclear reactor and you need to bake it with sub atomic

:44:28. > :44:32.particles called neutrons, then you need a separator. It's known as the

:44:33. > :44:35.perfect poison because it's difficult to detect, not only in the

:44:36. > :44:37.body but transporting it through airport scanners for example?

:44:38. > :44:40.body but transporting it through difficult to detect but it's not

:44:41. > :44:46.difficult to detect if you know what you are looking for. My colleagues

:44:47. > :44:50.at the national physical laboratory in Teddington, we detect it

:44:51. > :44:52.regularly, it's part of an environmental monitoring programme

:44:53. > :44:57.that people do all the time. If you are looking for the right detector,

:44:58. > :45:01.you can detect it, but it doesn't travel very far and in principle,

:45:02. > :45:04.you could put it in an envelope, and the radiation wouldn't get out of

:45:05. > :45:09.it. Thank you very much for coming on the programme. Much more reaction

:45:10. > :45:14.to the outcome of Sir Robert Owen's inquiry into the killing of

:45:15. > :45:20.Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel back in 2006. Time to get the

:45:21. > :45:24.latest weather with Alex. Thank you very much. It's cold

:45:25. > :45:29.across the UK again today. It will be turning milder over the next

:45:30. > :45:33.couple of days. A quick look back at 2015 first because a couple of

:45:34. > :45:37.studies released yesterday from meteorologists from the UK and the

:45:38. > :45:40.United States have assessed the temperatures across the globe from

:45:41. > :45:44.last year and found that it was the warmest year on record. Records go

:45:45. > :45:51.back well over 100 years. We didn't just beat the record, we smashed it,

:45:52. > :45:56.0.75 degrees above the long-term average. It doesn't sound a lot, but

:45:57. > :46:01.across the globe in a whole year is a big deal. A couple of reasons for

:46:02. > :46:08.that, scientists think the ongoing influence in the atmosphere was

:46:09. > :46:12.partly responsible and El Nino warmed the Pacific. That was strong

:46:13. > :46:17.last year and also helped make last year the warmest on record. With

:46:18. > :46:22.that ongoing, although potentially receding, 2016 is set to be another

:46:23. > :46:30.warm year. Now, this graph shows how temperatures have been steadily

:46:31. > :46:37.rising. The Y axis shows the tracker globe.

:46:38. > :46:54.El Nino is not just a recent phenomenon. Recent years have seen

:46:55. > :46:58.spikes but we have had coolly years, there was a volcano eruption in the

:46:59. > :47:04.90s which reflected the heat so it was a cooler than average year. Some

:47:05. > :47:07.freezing fog patches still around at the moment across parts of

:47:08. > :47:11.Lincolnshire, clearing away as we start to see a change, wet weather

:47:12. > :47:14.spilling from the Atlantic, still feeling cold out there today but

:47:15. > :47:19.this wet weather is eventually going to turn things Miles, potentially

:47:20. > :47:27.still I see as the wet weather comes into parts of Scotland. Eastern

:47:28. > :47:30.areas staying dry. We start around freezing, and temperatures, with the

:47:31. > :47:37.clouds Billington, will struggle, so it will feel cold across much of

:47:38. > :47:42.central England and Scotland. It is turning down across the south-west,

:47:43. > :47:45.the rain pushing into Wales and north-west England, Northern Ireland

:47:46. > :47:49.and much of Scotland. Again, temperatures struggling here. But

:47:50. > :47:50.the milder weather is on the way, temperatures will be much higher by

:47:51. > :47:54.the weekend. Hello, it's Thursday, it's 10am,

:47:55. > :47:56.I'm Victoria Derbyshire - welcome to the programme

:47:57. > :48:02.if you've just joined us. President Putin of Russia probably

:48:03. > :48:11.approved the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko -

:48:12. > :48:13.that's the finding of a massive inquiry that says the motive behind

:48:14. > :48:16.the killing went to the heart Mr Litvinenko's widow

:48:17. > :48:28.welcomed the conclusions. I am of course very pleased that the

:48:29. > :48:35.words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin of

:48:36. > :48:38.his murder have been proved true in the English court with a high

:48:39. > :48:42.standard of independency and fairness.

:48:43. > :48:44.We'll hear from the chair of the inquiry before 11am and bring you

:48:45. > :48:47.much more reaction. Also: A "deferential culture"

:48:48. > :48:49.with "untouchable stars" and some senior managers who felt

:48:50. > :48:52.they were "above the law". But a leaked report into abuse

:48:53. > :48:55.by Jimmy Savile says the BBC cannot be criticised for failing

:48:56. > :49:03.to uncover his "sexual deviancy". A lawyer representing

:49:04. > :49:15.more than 100 of his I just don't accept this lack of

:49:16. > :49:20.accountability. Dame Janet talks about 100 and witnesses giving

:49:21. > :49:25.evidence of what they saw, rumours, suspicions, feeling queasy and

:49:26. > :49:29.unwell at what they were witnessing, and for her not to find that

:49:30. > :49:35.management didn't know what was going on, it just beggars belief.

:49:36. > :49:39.And hundreds of primary school children in need

:49:40. > :49:42.A BBC investigation finds more than 400 have been referred

:49:43. > :49:52.to a Government programme in the past four years.

:49:53. > :49:57.The inquiry into the killing of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko

:49:58. > :50:01.has found that his murder was probably approved

:50:02. > :50:04.by Vladimir Putin and the then-head of the Russian security

:50:05. > :50:15.Mr Litvinenko, who fled to the UK and claimed asylum, was poisoned in

:50:16. > :50:21.London in 2006. After the hearing, his wife gave this reaction.

:50:22. > :50:27.The chairman found as a fact and to a high degree of probability that

:50:28. > :50:38.the FSB directed Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun to murder Sasha and also

:50:39. > :50:41.found as a fact their boss Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the

:50:42. > :50:50.director of FSB at the time, personally approved assassination.

:50:51. > :50:54.Earlier we spoke to our correspondent Richard Galpin, who

:50:55. > :50:58.saw an advance copy of the findings. This is very, very significant, the

:50:59. > :51:02.fact that Mr Putin has been named in this report as probably approving,

:51:03. > :51:07.the keyword there is probably, he cannot be sure about it but he says

:51:08. > :51:13.probably. What he is sure about in his conclusions is that Mr

:51:14. > :51:19.Litvinenko was poisoned in the bar of the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair

:51:20. > :51:23.in central London in 2006, that he was deliberately poisoned, and it

:51:24. > :51:26.was carried out by Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who, for many

:51:27. > :51:29.years, have been the two chief suspects.

:51:30. > :51:41.A leaked draft report into sexual abuse committed

:51:42. > :51:43.by Jimmy Savile on BBC premises says the behaviour of star

:51:44. > :51:44.presenters went unchallenged by managers.

:51:45. > :51:46.The inquiry team, led by Dame Janet Smith,

:51:47. > :51:49.says the draft is an old version that can't be relied upon.

:51:50. > :51:52.But there's been a swift response from the top of the BBC.

:51:53. > :51:55.What happened was a dark chapter in the history of the BBC.

:51:56. > :51:57.Dame Janet's report will be invaluable in helping

:51:58. > :52:00.us to understand what happened, and to help ensure that we do

:52:01. > :52:02.everything possible to ensure it doesn't happen

:52:03. > :52:07.A second woman has been charged with the murder of Sadie Hartley,

:52:08. > :52:09.the businesswoman from Lancashire who was found dead at her home

:52:10. > :52:16.A 55-year-old woman from Blackburn will appear in court

:52:17. > :52:21.Hundreds of children under the age of 10 have been referred

:52:22. > :52:23.to the Government's deradicalisation programme, according to figures

:52:24. > :52:29.A total of 415 children in England and Wales have gone

:52:30. > :52:31.through the Channel scheme, which aims to steer people

:52:32. > :52:40.Star Wars fans will have to wait longer than expected

:52:41. > :52:48.Disney have announced that Episode VIII won't be in cinemas

:52:49. > :52:49.until the end of 2017, around seven

:52:50. > :52:52.No reason has been given, but there's speculation

:52:53. > :52:56.Let's catch up with all the sport now and join Ore.

:52:57. > :52:59.So far so good for Andy Murray at the Australian open?

:53:00. > :53:03.Yes, Victoria. Andy Murray marches into the next

:53:04. > :53:07.round of the Australian Open, and against home

:53:08. > :53:17.favourite Sam Groth. It took the British

:53:18. > :53:23.number one just an hour an a half to dismantle the man

:53:24. > :53:26.with the biggest serve in tennis, Murray having too much skill

:53:27. > :53:30.and variety in his game to see off the Australian and booking

:53:31. > :53:32.a third round meeting against

:53:33. > :53:53.Portugal's Joao Sousa. Often when that happens

:53:54. > :53:57.you expect your opponent to come back into it a little bit

:53:58. > :54:00.and play a bit better, and that ended up being the case

:54:01. > :54:03.in the second but thankfully I had built up a big enough lead for that

:54:04. > :54:06.not really to make too much So Murray happy

:54:07. > :54:09.with his performance. And it seems he was pretty impressed

:54:10. > :54:12.with fellow Brit Johanna Konta earlier today too,

:54:13. > :54:14.tweeting her to "take a bow" as she booked her

:54:15. > :54:16.spot in round three. The 24-year old, born in Australia,

:54:17. > :54:19.and playing in the main draw in Melbourne for the first time,

:54:20. > :54:21.was too good for China's Zheng Next up for Konta is

:54:22. > :54:25.the Czech Denisa Allertova ranked 19 places below her so she's a real

:54:26. > :54:28.chance of going even further. There were some third round replays

:54:29. > :54:31.to wrap up in the FA It meant a third meeting in 10 days

:54:32. > :54:35.for Tottenham and Leicester. And after a draw and a Leicester

:54:36. > :54:38.win, I guess it was Tottenham's turn South Korea's Son Heung-min

:54:39. > :54:44.got the first goal, Nacer Chadli sealed the deal

:54:45. > :54:48.in the second half for They'll play League One Colchester

:54:49. > :54:52.in the fourth round. There was no giant killing

:54:53. > :54:59.at Anfield, as Liverpool booked a fourth round tie against West Ham

:55:00. > :55:07.with a comfortable, The pick of the goals

:55:08. > :55:12.from youngster Shay Ojo - A new three year study hopes to find

:55:13. > :55:17.out more about the long term effect of concussion on people

:55:18. > :55:19.who play sport. Competitors from sports like rugby,

:55:20. > :55:21.boxing and horse racing will be compared with members of the public

:55:22. > :55:25.of a similar weight and age who have Testing has already started

:55:26. > :55:31.on jockeys and will roll There was a lot of interest as to

:55:32. > :55:34.what happens, whether you can continue to play or not. We are not

:55:35. > :55:37.focusing on that, we are focusing on, if you have had a situation,

:55:38. > :55:39.whether I'm at a later point in your life, you are more at risk of

:55:40. > :55:41.depression, dementia, or feeling suicidal.

:55:42. > :55:42.With the six Nations round the corner we may well be talking about

:55:43. > :55:50.concussion in the coming months. Hello, thank you for

:55:51. > :55:52.joining us this morning. Welcome to the programme

:55:53. > :55:54.if you've just joined us. We're on BBC Two and the BBC

:55:55. > :55:57.News Channel until 11 this morning. We're bringing you the latest

:55:58. > :56:00.on this morning's breaking story, the public inquiry into the killing

:56:01. > :56:02.of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has concluded

:56:03. > :56:04.that President Putin retired judge Sir Robert Owen,

:56:05. > :56:17.in the next half hour. We'll bring that to

:56:18. > :56:19.you when it happens. Do get in touch throughout

:56:20. > :56:21.the programme, texts are charged The murder of former spy

:56:22. > :56:25.Alexander Livinenko was planned at the heart of the Russian state,

:56:26. > :56:37.with President Putin probably giving final approval for the killing,

:56:38. > :56:39.the independent inquiry into his

:56:40. > :56:40.death has concluded. Those findings have been published

:56:41. > :56:43.in the last half hour, and they say the assassination

:56:44. > :56:45.was 'signed off' after Mr Livinenko, who fled to the UK

:56:46. > :56:51.in 2000, was killed six years later in London by drinking green tea

:56:52. > :56:55.laced with radioactive polonium-210. The inquiry says two Russian agents,

:56:56. > :56:58.Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, carried out the killing,

:56:59. > :57:01.probably under the direction of Moscow's FSB

:57:02. > :57:17.intelligence service. Andrei Lugovoi himself has given his

:57:18. > :57:20.immediate reaction, and says the report is a pathetic attempt to use

:57:21. > :57:23.skeletons in the cupboard for its own political ambitions.

:57:24. > :57:25.The trail of contamination left by the polonium matched

:57:26. > :57:28.the movements of Kovtun and Lugovoi - both of whom deny any role

:57:29. > :57:39.This is Andrei Lugovoi - he's now a Russian MP.

:57:40. > :57:42.He's also a TV presenter and former KGB agent.

:57:43. > :57:44.He vehemently denies any involvement in Litvinenko's death and claims

:57:45. > :57:46.to be a victim of a complex conspiracy involving British

:57:47. > :57:51.intelligence and opponents of Vladimir Putin.

:57:52. > :57:59.In May 2007 the Crown Prosecution Service charged Lugovoi

:58:00. > :58:00.with Litvinenko's murder, and sought his extradition from

:58:01. > :58:03.But Russia refused, saying the constitution forbids extradition

:58:04. > :58:07.And this is the other suspect - Dmitry Kovtun.

:58:08. > :58:12.He's also a Russian businessman and a former military officer.

:58:13. > :58:17.From 1991 until 2003, he lived in Hamburg, Germany.

:58:18. > :58:18.After Litvineko's death police found traces of polonium

:58:19. > :58:26.He sent the public inquiry into disarray by saying he wanted

:58:27. > :58:28.to give evidence, only to change his mind

:58:29. > :58:41.Retired judge Sir Robert Owen suggested it was an attempt

:58:42. > :58:42.to 'manipulate the situation'.

:58:43. > :00:44.Let's take a closer look at who Alexander Litvinenko was.

:00:45. > :00:50.Everything about polonium-210 is regulated by the state, its

:00:51. > :00:51.transportation is regulated by the state, and its use is regulated by

:00:52. > :01:24.the state. Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina in the

:01:25. > :01:30.last half an hour welcomed the report's conclusions.

:01:31. > :01:36.This inquiry report into the murder of my husband Sasha Lipper Denko,

:01:37. > :01:40.Sir Robert Owen found as a fact that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun

:01:41. > :01:46.deliberately administered polonium-210 to Mr Litvinenko.

:01:47. > :01:50.Intending it would kill him. He was quite sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr

:01:51. > :02:00.Kovtun did so under the direction of others. The chairman found as a fact

:02:01. > :02:05.and to a high degree of probability that the FSB directed Mr Lugovoi and

:02:06. > :02:12.Mr Kovtun to murder Sasha, and also found as a fact their boss Vladimir

:02:13. > :02:19.Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the director of FSB at the time,

:02:20. > :02:26.personally approved assassination. I am of course very pleased that the

:02:27. > :02:32.words my husband spoke on his deathbed, when he accused Mr Putin

:02:33. > :02:38.of his murder, have been proved true in an English court with a high

:02:39. > :02:46.standard of independency and fairness. But now it is time for

:02:47. > :02:50.David Cameron, I'm calling immediately for expulsion from the

:02:51. > :03:00.UK of all Russian intelligence operatives, whether from the FSB or

:03:01. > :03:08.other Russian agencies, based in the London Embassy. I'm also calling for

:03:09. > :03:13.the imposition of targeted economic sanctions against named individuals

:03:14. > :03:18.including Nikolai Patrushev and Mr Putin. I received a letter last

:03:19. > :03:29.night from the Home Secretary promising action. It is unthinkable

:03:30. > :03:33.that the Prime Minister would do nothing in the face of damaging

:03:34. > :03:43.findings of Sir Robert Owen. Alexander Litvinenko's widow

:03:44. > :03:46.speaking in the last half hour. Now to Moscow to talk to our

:03:47. > :03:50.correspondent, Sarah Rainsford. I wonder how much interest Russia has

:03:51. > :03:54.in the outcome of this independent inquiry, Sarah?

:03:55. > :03:57.We heard from the Kremlin ahead of this, saying they had no interest at

:03:58. > :04:00.all, saying it was really not an issue on the Kremlin's agenda. Of

:04:01. > :04:07.course, that might be changed by the fact that these strong words have

:04:08. > :04:11.come out linking Mr Put Putin to what happened, the conclusion being

:04:12. > :04:18.that he and the head of the FSB at the time probably approved the

:04:19. > :04:21.killing of Alexander Litvinenko. I think what we won't see is the

:04:22. > :04:23.extradition of the two key suspects. That's something Mr Putin himself

:04:24. > :04:26.said wouldn't happen at the time when it was first asked by Britain

:04:27. > :04:30.and I don't think it's going to happen now. Andrei Lugovoi, one of

:04:31. > :04:34.the key suspects, is now a Member of Parliament, he runs a TV show here,

:04:35. > :04:40.he's a very prominent figure and also was give an medal by Moscow

:04:41. > :04:45.apparently for his services as a Member of Parliament, but certainly

:04:46. > :04:49.the timing of that was very curious. He himself has again denied anything

:04:50. > :04:54.to do with it. He said the claims were absurd, he said British justice

:04:55. > :05:00.has blown up the myth of its objectivity and he says this is all

:05:01. > :05:07.part of an anti--Russian wave of hysteria in London so he dismissed

:05:08. > :05:13.it out of hand. I suspect that's something we'll see more of as the

:05:14. > :05:20.day goes on here in Russia. The coauthor of Mr Litvinenko's

:05:21. > :05:24.Blowing up Russia and a friend of Alexander Litvinenko and a former

:05:25. > :05:26.MI5 intelligence officer who blew the whistle about alleged

:05:27. > :05:35.criminality within the Intelligence Services. Still with us from the BBC

:05:36. > :05:41.Russia service, Alexander Kan. Your reaction first that Vladimir Putin

:05:42. > :05:47."probably" ordered the approval? The key word here is "probably" and

:05:48. > :05:54.probably is as long as you want to make it. I was of the opinion before

:05:55. > :06:08.the report was published that the degree of

:06:09. > :06:19.culpability that was identified. This is somewhere in the middle and

:06:20. > :06:24.leaves a lot of flexibility in-between. We have heard Marina

:06:25. > :06:29.saying there should be economic sanctions. What do you think the

:06:30. > :06:31.British Government might do? Theresa May, Michael Fallon, Philip Hammond,

:06:32. > :06:35.David Cameron, they get together in a room, what are they going to say

:06:36. > :06:40.because they need Russia on side when it comes to defeating Islamic

:06:41. > :06:45.state? Absolutely. I think part of the atmosphere was set yesterday

:06:46. > :06:49.when Michael Fallon had very strong words about Russians targeting or

:06:50. > :06:52.killing civilians in Russia. That was setting the atmosphere and I

:06:53. > :06:57.think there's going to be a lot of very strong words. I think there may

:06:58. > :07:01.be some targeted, may be some expulsions or on the quiet some

:07:02. > :07:09.intelligence officers removed from London and there may be some resip

:07:10. > :07:16.Rickle action from Moscow -- reciprocal action. I very much doubt

:07:17. > :07:21.they'll go much further. It's important that Marina Litvinenko

:07:22. > :07:24.didn't call for any more economic sanctions but sanctions against

:07:25. > :07:28.individuals. Yes, you are absolutely right to point that out, which would

:07:29. > :07:32.mean for example the freezing of individual's bank accounts? Yes.

:07:33. > :07:43.Absolutely. That is a very good point Alexander. Yuri, how do you

:07:44. > :07:49.respond to the inquiry? I think we expected something like this for

:07:50. > :07:58.some time because we knew it from approximately 2007 that the order

:07:59. > :08:03.was conducted by two people, Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitry Kovtoun, members

:08:04. > :08:08.of the FSB, acting on behalf of the FSB,. . Taking into account that Mr

:08:09. > :08:14.Putin was a very close friend to Nikolai Patrushev who in 2006 was in

:08:15. > :08:22.charge of the FSB that Mr Putin himself was in charge of the FSB

:08:23. > :08:28.prior to that. It was almost certain that you would not organise an order

:08:29. > :08:34.in London of a British citizen without knowledge of Putin. Once

:08:35. > :08:37.again, this is impossible to prove, we will probably never ever prove

:08:38. > :08:53.it. I think what we've got is a good

:08:54. > :08:58.sign that the British Government at least decided finally and openly to

:08:59. > :09:09.explain to the population actually what was happening. OK. Annie, a

:09:10. > :09:12.former MI5 intelligence officer formerly, do you think this is as

:09:13. > :09:16.close to the truth as we are ever going to get? I think probably the

:09:17. > :09:21.latter, it's as close as we'll ever get. I should imagine though that in

:09:22. > :09:26.terms of foreign operations being conducted by intelligence agencies,

:09:27. > :09:28.the FSB probably has similar sort of accountability to MI6 which is our

:09:29. > :09:34.foreign intelligence-gathering agency. Under UK law, for example,

:09:35. > :09:38.if an MI6 officer wants to commit an act deemed to be illegal, they can

:09:39. > :09:41.get immunity from prosecution in the UK if they apply to the Foreign

:09:42. > :09:46.Secretary for prior written permission to carry out an attack.

:09:47. > :09:51.That's under section 8 of the Intelligence Services Act from 1994.

:09:52. > :09:54.I should imagine the requests went up fairly high within the FSB. How

:09:55. > :10:02.much further it went, we shall never know.

:10:03. > :10:08.OK. Alexander Litvinenko worked for MI6 on a part-time basis it was

:10:09. > :10:16.described to me. He was a British citizen, he came to Britain from

:10:17. > :10:22.Russia and claimed asylum. Do you think Britain failed him? Yes, it

:10:23. > :10:25.was a strong message to any future FSB whistleblowers that there's Mo

:10:26. > :10:29.where to be safe, even in London as a British citizen, the British spies

:10:30. > :10:33.are incapable of protecting you so don't blow the whistle. That was the

:10:34. > :10:41.key, revenge and also to send out such a message. Mary, some people

:10:42. > :10:45.watching us this morning, they are saying this happened years ago why

:10:46. > :10:47.is it relevant now, what does it matter, they are spies, this is what

:10:48. > :10:52.happens, it's a very dangerous world? I have a lot of sympathy with

:10:53. > :10:58.that view! I think on the other hand you also have to have enormous

:10:59. > :11:03.sympathy with Alexander's widow and it's largely thanks to her and very

:11:04. > :11:09.little thanks to the UK authorities that this inquiry has been held and

:11:10. > :11:14.that it's resulted in this report because she has campaigned

:11:15. > :11:18.tirelessly over the best part of ten years against a British

:11:19. > :11:25.establishment that was really very reluctant, even to hold an inquest.

:11:26. > :11:28.One of the things that reflects appallingly actually on the UK

:11:29. > :11:33.itself and the judicial system is that it's taken nine years for an

:11:34. > :11:38.inquiry to be held. There was this huge fuss at the outset that a

:11:39. > :11:45.British citizen was targeted in an act of nuclear terrorism on British

:11:46. > :11:50.soil. What were we doing about it? Postponing and postponing and pest

:11:51. > :11:55.poning, even an inquest, let alone and inquiry -- postponing. It was

:11:56. > :11:58.only as a response to Ukraine and Russia's action in Ukraine that the

:11:59. > :12:06.Home Secretary suddenly came out and announced that there would be an

:12:07. > :12:09.inquiry. Now, you know, I have all sorts of hesitations and misgivings

:12:10. > :12:12.about the way the inquiry was conducted. Because some of the

:12:13. > :12:15.evidence was closed. That was always going to be the case because we were

:12:16. > :12:21.going to hear from British intelligence officers? Absolutely

:12:22. > :12:26.but I think the extent to which it was held, there was a large amount

:12:27. > :12:30.of evidence heard solely by the judge, not just on camera, but

:12:31. > :12:35.of evidence heard solely by the by the judge, not even by the other

:12:36. > :12:42.parties, so to call it a public inquiry, it's a travesty of the

:12:43. > :12:45.term. An independent inquiry then. In terms of what happens next,

:12:46. > :12:49.whether the British Government will be able to separate this and these

:12:50. > :12:53.conclusions from wider relations with Russia, something that we

:12:54. > :13:00.touched upon earlier, is that inevitable, it's got to happen do

:13:01. > :13:07.you think? I think there is enormous tragedy

:13:08. > :13:12.attached to the relations. The mistiming, each time there is an

:13:13. > :13:16.attempt to improve things, something happens to completely kibosh that

:13:17. > :13:19.process and we are seeing it again because the British national

:13:20. > :13:24.interest, as has been pointed out, is in cooperating with Russia with

:13:25. > :13:28.Syria, the diplomacy internationally, and lo and behold,

:13:29. > :13:31.wove now got this problem. I actually think that going back to

:13:32. > :13:37.the word "probably", I think that is crucial and I think that leaves a

:13:38. > :13:44.degree of flexibility and there'll be a lot of rhetoric, but action I

:13:45. > :13:47.think Marina is probably right, there'll be targeting of

:13:48. > :13:52.intelligence officers and people who were named, it won't go beyond that.

:13:53. > :13:56.Yuri, are you not dissatisfied with the use of the word "probably" or,

:13:57. > :13:59.if there's not the evidence to absolutely point to President Putin

:14:00. > :14:05.giving the order then of course the retired judge has to use that word?

:14:06. > :14:10.No. I would say that legally, they could not go further. There's no way

:14:11. > :14:21.they would prove that Putin was behind it. But I think that we

:14:22. > :14:26.became slightly more cynical by 2016 than we were in 2006 when Litvinenko

:14:27. > :14:34.was killed. There was an invasion of Georgia, there was an invasion of

:14:35. > :14:38.Crimea in 2000. The only common ground now is Syria, that's why

:14:39. > :14:44.everyone is thinking that we need Russia. It's questionable whether

:14:45. > :14:51.Russia is actually helping us in Syria. There is an opinion or two

:14:52. > :14:57.that Russia actually is not. So I think we do not have to rely on

:14:58. > :15:02.Russia to do whatever Russia wants simply because potentially we might

:15:03. > :15:08.use Russian troops in Syria to fly to Assad when Russia actually is

:15:09. > :15:13.helping him. So I think we went as far as we could legally. The

:15:14. > :15:19.question is, I agree with Marina, the question is whether the British

:15:20. > :15:22.Government would be strong and brave enough to in principle enough to

:15:23. > :15:26.announce sanctions against individuals as well. But we have to

:15:27. > :15:32.understand that Nikolai Patrushev is not going to London for vacation,

:15:33. > :15:42.his family is, so you have to be realistic. You have to punish people

:15:43. > :15:51.travelling to London, who have property in London. I want to ask

:15:52. > :15:54.you before we leave this conversation, about Alexander

:15:55. > :15:59.Litvinenko, Mary reminded us about the personal tragedy here, Marina,

:16:00. > :16:04.their son, the fact that Marina fought tirelessly to get this

:16:05. > :16:06.inquiry to even begin. You knew Alexander Litvinenko. What was he

:16:07. > :16:17.like? First of all he worked there for 20

:16:18. > :16:23.years, you have to understand that the way they select people for this

:16:24. > :16:30.organisation is very, very special, and those people who were selected,

:16:31. > :16:36.you can see Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi as members who behave

:16:37. > :16:42.themselves now, but Litvinenko was brought into the system in 98, he

:16:43. > :16:49.escaped to London in 2000, this was of course very unusual. He became a

:16:50. > :16:53.defector, we had cases of several defectors from the Soviet Union

:16:54. > :17:00.during those years, and I think he was very sincere with me as much as

:17:01. > :17:06.the former officer of the FSB could be. But when I used the word friend

:17:07. > :17:14.to him once, he kind of laughed and told me, never used the word friend

:17:15. > :17:21.to a person who was working there. His wife was very different, we have

:17:22. > :17:25.objects and operatives, we do not have friends, and this was the

:17:26. > :17:30.difference of course. Thank you all for talking to us and for your time.

:17:31. > :17:35.Alexander, you are staying with us, I think. Thank you.

:17:36. > :17:39.The Government here has been giving its reaction to the findings of

:17:40. > :17:44.today's independent inquiry. Let's talk to Norman Smith in Westminster.

:17:45. > :17:47.What is the reaction? We haven't had official reaction but all of the

:17:48. > :17:51.conversations I have been having with Bob in Government suggest to me

:17:52. > :17:56.that Mrs Litvinenko is probably going to be disappointed in the sort

:17:57. > :18:01.of response that she clearly wants because what folk in Government are

:18:02. > :18:08.saying is, hang on, we have already taken measures against Russia, so

:18:09. > :18:10.when Mr Litvinenko was murdered four Russian diplomats were booted out of

:18:11. > :18:17.London, the Government suspended talks about easing visa requirements

:18:18. > :18:24.between Russia and the UK, all cooperation with the Russian

:18:25. > :18:30.security services, the FSB, that was halted, and of course the Russian

:18:31. > :18:34.Government did, in time, demand the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi,

:18:35. > :18:38.albeit the Russian Government pretty much put two fingers up to that. You

:18:39. > :18:42.get the sense the Government is preparing to say, we have done

:18:43. > :18:45.pretty much all we can and realistically there is not much more

:18:46. > :18:49.you could expect us to do. The difficulty for them is they will

:18:50. > :18:53.come under an enormous amount of pressure because this report pretty

:18:54. > :18:56.much point the finger of blame at President Putin, and my

:18:57. > :19:01.understanding is that Labour are going to argue that the Government

:19:02. > :19:06.has to put the pursuit of justice ahead of diplomacy, and they will be

:19:07. > :19:11.seeking things such as asking the Government to lead the calls Russia

:19:12. > :19:15.to be stripped of the 2018 World Cup. That would be a very

:19:16. > :19:20.high-profile move, I think they are also likely to demand a review of

:19:21. > :19:25.relations between the British Parliament and the Russian

:19:26. > :19:29.parliament, because Mr Lugovoi is a member of the Russian parliament,

:19:30. > :19:36.and they will also make demands for looking at possible travel bans. The

:19:37. > :19:39.Liberal Democrats, two, have also responded, this was their leader Tim

:19:40. > :19:43.Farron last night. The diplomatic relationship with

:19:44. > :19:48.Russia is very important, as is our ongoing effort to bring peace in

:19:49. > :19:52.Syria and in other ways as well, but we mustn't allow that to get in the

:19:53. > :19:56.way of standing up to people who murdered, brutally murdered, and

:19:57. > :20:01.innocent British citizen on the streets of London nearly ten years

:20:02. > :20:05.ago. Those people can be held to account, we have powers, for example

:20:06. > :20:09.the freezing of their assets in this country, an EU wide travel ban, and

:20:10. > :20:13.we should use those powers and use them straightaway.

:20:14. > :20:19.My sense is, despite today's ruling, despite the political pressure,

:20:20. > :20:22.there is no desire in Government to further sour relations with

:20:23. > :20:26.President Putin particularly because of what is going on in Syria, so I

:20:27. > :20:31.suspect we will get a lot of rhetoric, if you like, in terms of

:20:32. > :20:34.additional measures are not sure we will get that much.

:20:35. > :20:38.Thank you very much, interesting. Let's hear from the man who chaired

:20:39. > :20:43.the inquiry, retired judge Sir Robert Owen, who has been setting

:20:44. > :20:45.out his result in the last few minutes.

:20:46. > :20:53.Alexander Litvinenko was born on the 4th of December 1962, a citizen of

:20:54. > :21:02.the Soviet Union. He died aged 44 on the 23rd of November 2006 in

:21:03. > :21:09.University College Hospital, London, by then a British citizen.

:21:10. > :21:14.Postmortem examination revealed that his death had been caused by an

:21:15. > :21:22.indigestion of a fatal dose of the radio isotope polonium-210. The

:21:23. > :21:29.circumstances of his death attracted worldwide interest and concern. They

:21:30. > :21:32.were referred to by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as, I

:21:33. > :21:40.quote, a miniature nuclear attack on the streets of London. In July 2007,

:21:41. > :21:46.the then Foreign Secretary observed that, I quote, the manner of

:21:47. > :21:53.Litvinenko's death put many hundreds of other people at risk. The motion

:21:54. > :21:59.of the United States House of Representatives, dated April one

:22:00. > :22:03.2008, noted that polonium-210, I quote, could be used to kill large

:22:04. > :22:09.numbers of people or spread general panic and hysteria among the public.

:22:10. > :22:16.In the course of the inquest hearings, it was admitted on behalf

:22:17. > :22:20.of media organisations that the issues to which it gave rise, I

:22:21. > :22:25.quote, include allegations of state-sponsored assassination by

:22:26. > :22:33.radioactive poisoning of a British citizen in London, issues of the

:22:34. > :22:41.greatest public concern. Over nine years have elapsed since

:22:42. > :22:45.his death. And it is appropriate that I shall explain shortly why it

:22:46. > :22:52.has taken so long for a full inquiry into his death to be completed. The

:22:53. > :22:57.inquest into his death was opened by Her Majesty's coroner for inner

:22:58. > :23:02.London, in the north London, on the 30th of November 2006, but was

:23:03. > :23:11.adjourned pending the police investigation into his death and any

:23:12. > :23:17.ensuing criminal proceedings. The police investigation led to the

:23:18. > :23:25.conclusion that the fatal dose of polonium-210 was probably consumed

:23:26. > :23:29.by Mr Litvinenko on the 1st of November, 2006, when in the company

:23:30. > :23:39.of Mr Andrei Lugovoi and Mr Dmitry Kovtun. Both Russian nationals, at a

:23:40. > :23:45.hotel in London. Warrants were, in due course, issued for their arrest,

:23:46. > :23:51.and the Crown Prosecution Service sought, unsuccessfully, to extradite

:23:52. > :24:02.them from the Russian Federation to stand trial for murder. On the 13th

:24:03. > :24:07.of October, 2011, the inquest was resumed, as it had become clear by

:24:08. > :24:14.then that there was no realistic prospect of the suspects facing a

:24:15. > :24:25.criminal trial, and on the 7th of August, 2012, I was appointed to

:24:26. > :24:31.conduct the inquest. Through the course of my preparation for the

:24:32. > :24:36.inquest, I was given access to sensitive Government documents that,

:24:37. > :24:42.in my judgment, were relevant to the investigation I was conducting. More

:24:43. > :24:49.particularly, those documents raised a prima facie case of the Russian

:24:50. > :24:56.state bearing responsibility for Mr Litvinenko's death. The law does not

:24:57. > :25:03.permit evidence to be taken in what are known as secret or closed

:25:04. > :25:08.sessions at an inquest. But the Government material was of such

:25:09. > :25:16.sensitivity that it could not be produced in any form of public or

:25:17. > :25:19.open hearing. The material was therefore necessarily excluded from

:25:20. > :25:27.the inquest proceedings under the legal principle known as Public

:25:28. > :25:33.interest immunity. It had always been my view that the question of

:25:34. > :25:36.possible Russian state responsibility was one of the most

:25:37. > :25:44.important issues arising from his death. It was an issue that I had

:25:45. > :25:50.wanted to investigate at the inquest, but I considered that I

:25:51. > :25:55.would be failing in my duty to conduct a full and independent

:25:56. > :25:58.investigation if I did so in the knowledge that there was relevant

:25:59. > :26:07.Government material that I could not take into account because the public

:26:08. > :26:12.interest immunity. I therefore wrote to Her Majesty's Government asking

:26:13. > :26:18.it to exercise the power to establish a public inquiry to

:26:19. > :26:26.replace the inquest. I did so because, under section 11 of the

:26:27. > :26:30.inquiries act 2005, that power may be exercised where it appears to a

:26:31. > :26:35.minister that, I quote, particular events have caused or are capable of

:26:36. > :26:44.causing public concern, or there is public concern that particular

:26:45. > :26:50.events may have occurred. The advantage of a public inquiry over

:26:51. > :26:52.an inquest was that the rules governing and inquiry allow for

:26:53. > :27:03.sensitive evidence to be heard in closed session. However, the Home

:27:04. > :27:07.Secretary declined my request. But her refusal to establish a public

:27:08. > :27:15.inquiry was successfully challenged in the High Court by Mr Litvinenko's

:27:16. > :27:23.widow, Marina Litvinenko. A judgment in which they divisional Court

:27:24. > :27:28.upheld the challenge was handed down on the 11th of February, 2014. It

:27:29. > :27:37.required the Home Secretary to make a further decision as to whether to

:27:38. > :27:44.establish an inquiry. Thus, on the 22nd of July, 2014, almost two years

:27:45. > :27:47.after I had been appointed to conduct the inquest, the Home

:27:48. > :27:52.Secretary announced in a written statement laid before the House of

:27:53. > :27:57.Commons that a public inquiry was to be held into the death of Alexander

:27:58. > :28:04.Litvinenko under the inquiries act 2005, and, in consequence, the

:28:05. > :28:11.inquest was suspended. I was appointed to chair the inquiry, I

:28:12. > :28:16.was then a serving judge of the High Court, an office from which I

:28:17. > :28:22.retired on the 19th of September, 2014, having reached the compulsory

:28:23. > :28:31.retirement age. My retirement did not affect my position as chairman

:28:32. > :28:35.of the inquiry. The terms of reference for the inquiry, terms

:28:36. > :28:40.upon which I was consulted, are set out in full in my report and on the

:28:41. > :28:46.inquiry website. Paragraph one provides as follows: Subject to

:28:47. > :28:50.paragraphs two and three below, the chairman is to conduct an

:28:51. > :28:56.investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko in order to

:28:57. > :29:01.one, ascertain in accordance with section 51 of the coroners and

:29:02. > :29:07.Justice act 2009 through the deceased was, how, when and where he

:29:08. > :29:12.came by his death, and the particulars required by the births

:29:13. > :29:20.and deaths registration act 1953 to be registered concerning his death.

:29:21. > :29:26.And, two, to identify so far as is consistent with section two of the

:29:27. > :29:30.inquiries act where responsibility for the death lies. Three, to make

:29:31. > :29:36.such recommendations as may be appropriate.

:29:37. > :29:43.By her letter of appointment, the Home Secretary invited me to

:29:44. > :29:54.complete the inquiry by December 2000 and 15. -- December 20 15. I

:29:55. > :30:00.opened the inquiry on the 31st of July 20 14. The final open hearing

:30:01. > :30:08.took place one year to the day later on the 31st of July, 2015. On the

:30:09. > :30:12.15th of December last, I announced that my report was complete, and

:30:13. > :30:15.that, in accordance with the protocol agreed with the Secretary

:30:16. > :30:21.of State, the report would be delivered to her 48 hours before

:30:22. > :30:30.being tabled by her in the House of Commons at 9:35am today. It will

:30:31. > :30:38.shortly be published on the inquiry website. The inquiry has been

:30:39. > :30:44.completed well within the budget prepared by the inquiry secretariat

:30:45. > :30:55.and adopted by the Home Secretary in setting the budget cap. I conducted

:30:56. > :31:02.open hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice on 34 days in January,

:31:03. > :31:09.February, March and July 2015. The open evidence is available to the

:31:10. > :31:16.public in its entirety on the inquiry website. The oral evidence

:31:17. > :31:22.in the form of full daily transcripts. The witness statements

:31:23. > :31:30.and documents admitted into evidence are also

:31:31. > :31:38.I also held closed hearings in the course of which I heard oral

:31:39. > :31:41.evidence and considered the documentary material, the subject of

:31:42. > :31:52.restriction notices. The findings of fact and the

:31:53. > :31:56.conclusions that I have drawn from the facts are based upon the

:31:57. > :32:01.entirety of the evidence that I have seen and heard, both open and

:32:02. > :32:09.closed. They are mine and mine alone. I turn then shortly to

:32:10. > :32:13.summarise the central findings of fact and my conclusions as to how,

:32:14. > :32:19.when and where Alexander Litvinenko came by his death. And as to where

:32:20. > :32:27.the responsibility for that death lies.

:32:28. > :32:39.Alexander Litvinenko was born on the 4th December, 1962 in the Russian

:32:40. > :32:45.city of Voronesch. He attended military college, graduating in

:32:46. > :32:48.about 1985 as a lieutenant and served for approximately three years

:32:49. > :32:52.in the forces of the Interior Ministry.

:32:53. > :32:57.STUDIO: We are going to leave Sir Robert Owen for a moment because we

:32:58. > :33:01.can talk now to Bill Browder who is going to give reaction to the

:33:02. > :33:06.conclusions of Sir Robert Owen's inquiry and claims the Kremlin tried

:33:07. > :33:10.to kill him and successfully killed his lawyer. Thank you for joining

:33:11. > :33:14.us. Your reaction to the fact that Sir Robert Owen says that Vladimir

:33:15. > :33:18.Putin "probably" approved the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in a

:33:19. > :33:27.London hotel? Doesn't surprise me at all. This is what any reasonable

:33:28. > :33:32.person would have thought based on the absolutely rare type of poison

:33:33. > :33:36.they use, the fact the state had access to it and the fact that

:33:37. > :33:41.Litvinenko was an extreme thorn in the side of Vladimir Putin. The real

:33:42. > :33:45.question is, what next? We'll talk about this in a moment if

:33:46. > :33:50.we may because in terms of you saying he was a real thorn in the

:33:51. > :33:53.side of Vladimir Putin, he was definitely a critic, he'd obviously

:33:54. > :33:58.fled Russia, to London, became a British citizen, worked on a

:33:59. > :34:05.part-time basis for MI6, he was potentially about to expose links

:34:06. > :34:10.with organised crime around the world. Would that be enough for

:34:11. > :34:19.Vladimir Putin to order for him to be killed? Well, he did one thing

:34:20. > :34:26.which was truly breaking the rules, he switch sidesment he went from

:34:27. > :34:30.being a KGB or FSB as they call it now, to being a dissident and Putin

:34:31. > :34:34.can't handle any type of dis-Royalty. If Alexander Litvinenko

:34:35. > :34:37.was allowed to do that without consequence, Putin would have

:34:38. > :34:41.problems with the other people who were privy to his secrets and all

:34:42. > :34:44.the dirty business they do in Russia, so they couldn't allow that

:34:45. > :34:52.to happen and Litvinenko was indeed going to come out with very, very

:34:53. > :34:55.clear links between the Russian Government and organised crime and

:34:56. > :34:59.that is something, combined with the disloyalty, earned him a death

:35:00. > :35:03.certificate from the Kremlin. Tell our audience why you say the

:35:04. > :35:11.Kremlin wanted you dead, failed to kill you, but successfully killed

:35:12. > :35:15.your lawyer? I ran the largest investment fund in

:35:16. > :35:21.Russia for ten years and exposed corruption at Gazprom, the biggest

:35:22. > :35:26.gas company and other big companies and that really annoyed Putin and

:35:27. > :35:42.people close to him. I was expelled from Russia in 2005, then my offices

:35:43. > :35:51.were raided. Using the documents seized, they stole money. I had a

:35:52. > :35:58.man working for me, he was put in jail, tortured for 358 days and

:35:59. > :36:03.ultimately killed on 16th November 2009. Dmitry Medvedev, the former

:36:04. > :36:09.President of Russia, when asked about the death said it was a shame

:36:10. > :36:13.that he was dead and Bill Browder is still alive and running around. You

:36:14. > :36:16.raised the question of what next. Briefly, the British Government says

:36:17. > :36:22.it's already taken action in response to the murder of Alexander

:36:23. > :36:29.Litvinenko by expelling various officials and Russian diplomats back

:36:30. > :36:37.in 2006. Is that enough? Let's just look at this in very simple terms.

:36:38. > :36:43.The Russian Government, probably coming from Vladimir Putin himself,

:36:44. > :36:47.sent assassins to use a mini nuclear weapon polonium-210 in Mayfair in

:36:48. > :36:53.London. 700 people were tested for radiation. That radiation went from

:36:54. > :36:59.Arsenal stadium to Itsu restaurant to the millennium Hotel. It created

:37:00. > :37:03.a huge public health hazard in addition to the murder of Alexander

:37:04. > :37:07.Litvinenko and in response to that, the appropriate response they are

:37:08. > :37:12.saying is to expel four diplomats. That's absurd. This is a major act

:37:13. > :37:17.of terrorism, nuclear terrorism on UK soil. There needs to be a much,

:37:18. > :37:18.much stronger reaction than expelling four diplomats. It's

:37:19. > :37:20.absurd. Thank you very much for talking to

:37:21. > :37:25.us. The BBC Director General, Tony Hall,

:37:26. > :37:28.has described the decades of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile

:37:29. > :37:31.as a "dark chapter" It comes after a draft

:37:32. > :37:36.copy of a report - asking how it could have gone

:37:37. > :37:39.undetected for so long It reveals 61 incidents of sexual

:37:40. > :37:44.assault at the corporation - including four rapes

:37:45. > :37:46.and one attempted rape - with abuse committed at virtually

:37:47. > :37:49.every one of the BBC premises. Dame Janet Smith's report says it

:37:50. > :37:53.waslargely down to a deferential ..Deference to "untouchable stars"

:37:54. > :37:59.and to managers who acted and were treated as though

:38:00. > :38:02.they were "above the law". Staff, it appears, were too afraid

:38:03. > :38:06.to report their concerns. Her review was set up in October

:38:07. > :38:09.2012 by the BBC to carry out an impartial investigation

:38:10. > :38:12.of the corporation's culture and practices during the years it

:38:13. > :38:15.employed Savile, thought to be from 1964 to 2007.The review team

:38:16. > :38:19.by the way say they're very disappointed with the leaked

:38:20. > :38:22.extracts, say they are out of date, should 'not be relied on in any

:38:23. > :38:26.circumstances', and the official report will be published in a few

:38:27. > :38:40.weeks time.This is what the BBC Liz Dux is a lawyer at Slater

:38:41. > :38:44.Gordon. She said it was unacceptable that the manager didn't know about

:38:45. > :38:51.the abuse. I don't accept this lack of accountability. Dame Janet talks

:38:52. > :38:56.about 107 witnesses giving evidence of what they saw, rue fours,

:38:57. > :39:01.suspicions, feeling queasy and unwell at what they were witnessing.

:39:02. > :39:06.For her not to find that management didn't know what was going on, it

:39:07. > :39:15.just beggars belief. For that not to have permeated up the chain, I just

:39:16. > :39:20.don't accept it. Mark watts is from the organisation

:39:21. > :39:26.which leaked the report. Dame Janet Smith says do not rely on it in any

:39:27. > :39:29.circumstances. This is the draft from which criticisms were put to a

:39:30. > :39:34.whole range of individuals at the BBC and to the BBC as an institution

:39:35. > :39:37.as part of what is known as the Maxwellisation process, the final

:39:38. > :39:41.opportunity to give any final responses to the criticisms and the

:39:42. > :39:45.review team is actually on record, they put a statement out last

:39:46. > :39:48.October, saying they have not changed their conclusions as a

:39:49. > :39:52.consequence of the Maxwellisation process. OK. And the conclusions

:39:53. > :39:57.being? It's a devastating document for the

:39:58. > :40:01.BBC in so many ways. The scale of Savile's abuse at the BBC far larger

:40:02. > :40:08.than previously realised. The number of people at the BBC who knew or had

:40:09. > :40:13.some idea of it, more than 100 people, far more extensive than

:40:14. > :40:16.people realised, and despite that says Smith, no-one at the top

:40:17. > :40:21.realised, had a clue, about what was going on. Because people lower down,

:40:22. > :40:25.she says, were too afraid to take it higher up? That's right. They were

:40:26. > :40:31.too scared. There were instances of staff being attacked by him. One

:40:32. > :40:35.attempted rape of a woman who worked for the BBC and managed to get away

:40:36. > :40:39.from him and she discussed with colleagues whether to make a

:40:40. > :40:43.complaint to the police or to someone within the BBC. She decided

:40:44. > :40:50.it would be bad for her career at the BBC. That was the level of fear.

:40:51. > :40:55.That is astonishing. Do you accept that society really has changed,

:40:56. > :41:00.that the pendulum's swung in favour of victims of alleged abuse that it

:41:01. > :41:04.couldn't happen again or not? She says in her after-words to the

:41:05. > :41:08.report that actually, there could still be a Jimmy Savile lurking

:41:09. > :41:11.within the BBC. The major reason is that the fear of whistleblowing is

:41:12. > :41:15.even greater today because lots of people work in the BBC and they are

:41:16. > :41:19.freelance and even less sure of their positions than in the past so

:41:20. > :41:22.she says that the whistleblowing practises at the BBC are worse than

:41:23. > :41:25.in Savile's time. And everybody talks about the

:41:26. > :41:29.rumours that circulated about Savile. What does she say about

:41:30. > :41:34.that, that people talked about it but it was never really anybody

:41:35. > :41:38.pinning anything on him? There were varying degrees of knowledge. One

:41:39. > :41:42.important thing about what Smith says, she points to things in the

:41:43. > :41:46.public domain, for example, to articles that ran in the Sun in

:41:47. > :41:50.April 1983, based on an interview with him. Although he didn't admit

:41:51. > :41:54.to be a paedophile, they showed him in a really bad light and she says,

:41:55. > :41:58.surely anybody could have seen this was not a suitable person to present

:41:59. > :42:03.a programme aimed at children. She puts that question to all sorts of

:42:04. > :42:07.senior people who say society wasn't kicking up a stink, why should we

:42:08. > :42:11.have worried so much. That programme is Jim 'll Fix It. But Top of the

:42:12. > :42:14.Pops, she talks about the number of young females invited to the

:42:15. > :42:19.audience who were in moral danger was the phrase she uses I think? The

:42:20. > :42:24.report is particularly devastating because it talks about abuse that

:42:25. > :42:30.goes on beyond Savile, talks about people carrying out abuse that goes

:42:31. > :42:36.beyond him and that is very disturbing. Thank you very much Mark

:42:37. > :42:40.watts. A couple of messages from you, this is somebody describing

:42:41. > :42:48.themselves as an angry licence fee payer. Why should we have to pay a

:42:49. > :42:53.licence when the BBC employs perverts amongst its tainted rocks

:42:54. > :42:57.of hypocrisy. Another viewer says, I'm incredulous that this leaked

:42:58. > :43:02.draft report into Savile apparently the BBC's basically been exonerated

:43:03. > :43:09.from blame regarding his inappropriate sexual behaviour. It

:43:10. > :43:13.seems abundantly clear to me that the BBC showed/shows a deferential

:43:14. > :43:17.attitude to people like him who were and are popular and powerful.

:43:18. > :43:22.Actually on that point, she talks about untouchable stars doesn't she,

:43:23. > :43:26.the power of celebrity? Yes, deferential attitude to stars and to

:43:27. > :43:30.above the law managers. The BBC's given a kicking in this report.

:43:31. > :43:33.No-one at the top knew says Smith but she blames the culture of the

:43:34. > :43:36.BBC for allowing Savile to operate in the way that he did. Thank you

:43:37. > :43:40.very much. The official report, by the way, published in the next few

:43:41. > :43:44.weeks. Thank you very much for your company

:43:45. > :44:01.today. Joanna is here tomorrow at 9. 15. Have a good day.

:44:02. > :44:04.You saying you're not a tax haven? We're not a tax haven at all.

:44:05. > :44:06.You've got to please turn off the camera.