this is bbc news. the headlines at eight. the prime minister says it is highly likely that russia was behind the attack on a former russian spy in salisbury. this attempted murder using a weapons grade nerve agent in a british town was notjust a crime against the skripals. it was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the united kingdom. as investigations continue — the russian ambassador is summoned to the foreign office and told to explain by the end of tomorrow how the chemical weapon found its way to salisbury. a teenager is jailed for ten—and—a—half years for attacking six moped riders with acid while trying to steal their bikes. sky's football pundit jamie carragher is suspended after he spits at a teenage girl and her family. he brought laughter to millions — we'll be remembering ken dodd. the last of the great music hall variety comedians —

who's died at the age of 90. and meghan markle attends her first official event with the queen at a service to mark commonwealth day at westminster abbey. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister has confirmed that the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by russia. theresa may told the house of commons that it was ‘highly likely‘ that russia was behind the attack. now the russian ambassador has been summoned to the foreign office

and told to explain by tomorrow night — how a nerve agent made its way to salisbury. theresa may said if there's no credible response, the government will conclude that the attack was an unlawful use of force by the russian state against the united kingdom. with the latest here's our diplomatic correspondent james landale. today, police continued to examine the salisbury home of sergei skripal, more than a week after the former russian intelligence officer and his daughter were attacked with a nerve agent. a week during which it has remained unclear who carried out the crime and wide. who carried out the crime and why. so, this morning ministers gathered for a meeting of the national security council, looking for answers. an update on the investigation from the police and intelligence services that would allow them and the prime minister to decide what steps to take next. for some days ministers have been pushing theresa may for a tougher response. this afternoon she was clear who she thought was responsible, and what they should do.

it is now clear that mr skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by russia. this is part of a group of nerve agents known as novichok. based on the analysis of world leading experts at porton down, our knowledge that russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so, the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the act against sergei and yulia skripal. she said the foreign secretary had summoned the russian ambassador and told him he had until the end of tomorrow to explain whether this was a direct act by the russian state or by others who now control the nerve agent. mr speaker, this attempted murder using a weapons grade nerve agent in a british town was notjust a crime against the skripals, it was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the united kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk. and we will not tolerate such

a brazen attempt to murder in innocent civilians on our soil. the labour leader criticised the tories for accepting money from russian donors. he called for tougher sanctions on oligarchs living london. but... we need to continue seeking a robust dialogue with russia on all the issues currently dividing our countries, both domestic and international. rather than simply cutting off contact and letting the tensions and divisions get worse. earlier today, before the statement, president putin was visiting an agricultural centre in southern russia and dismissed a question from the bbc‘s steve rosenberg. president putin, bbc news — is russia behind the poisoning of sergei skripal? translation: we are dealing with agriculture here, as you see, to create conditions for people's lives, and you talk to me about some tragedies. first get to the bottom of it there, and then we will discuss

this. but now that russia has been blamed officially for what happened in salisbury, it has 2a hours to decide how to respond. james landale, bbc news. in salisbury hundreds of police officers have been working around the clock, along with experts from the armed forces to try to establish exactly what happened on that sunday afternoon 8 days ago. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports from salisbury with the latest in the investigation. scenes of chemical warfare experts in gas masks and protective suits spread out from salisbury into the surrounding countryside today. here they were removing a van belonging toa they were removing a van belonging to a company that runs tow trucks. vehicles recovered during the operation are being taken to the nearby chemical weapons laboratory at porton down. so widespread as the possible contamination of the nerve agent that these specialist troops

are now working in the village more than five miles from the centre of salisbury. in the city itself counterterrorism officers, one in a balaclava, sealed off the top deck of the sainsbury‘s multistorey car park. the prime minister said the people of salisbury responded with fortitude and calmness yet there are still concerns that it took the chief medical officer seven days to give people who were in the contaminated give people who were in the co nta m i nated restau ra nt give people who were in the contaminated restaurant and pub the advice to wash their clothes. the disappointment in this case is that it has taken them so long to release some information that might be of interest and might affect the individual people of salisbury. it's extraordinary that this medieval cathedral city has seen the deployment of one of the military grade russian nerve agents called novichok. they were developed in the 19805 novichok. they were developed in the 1980s and 1990s by the russians because red lines on the use of chemicals had disappeared and the

hundred—year debut on the use of them had disappeared because we had done nothing about the use in syria. if it is putin he might be feeling that he can use chemical weapons and nobody will do anything about it. salisbury has had the air of a science—fiction film these last nine days, the scene of what the prime minister today called a reckless and despicable act. we'll have more on the investigation shortly from our correspondent in salisbury, duncan kennedy. first, let's go to westminster and our political correspondent chris mason. chris, we saw in those reports, a lot of debate in the house of commons today, we heard from the prime minister. what stood out for you? what stood out was the sense of occasion, the gravity of the occasion. that was emphasised in the contributions from across the house. yes, as we heard, there wasjeremy corbyn ‘s contribution relating to contributions from russians that the conservative party have had in donations in recent years, that led

tojeering and donations in recent years, that led to jeering and cheering and shouts of shane! and discussed! from the backbenches but apart from that, lots of contributions from the front and the back benches were focused on the specifics of what is going on in salisbury and mr corbyn also talked about that. i think the most striking thing politically in this is that this is the moment the prime minister took off the pause button on the government ‘s reaction geopolitically and internationally to what happened in salisbury over a week ago. four week that has been reticence and today that ended and it was a big moment for theresa may, less tha n it was a big moment for theresa may, less than two years in the job as prime minister and starting a diplomatic ball rolling in the chamber this afternoon with moscow that we know will now continue. there is that deadline, the end of tomorrow night, for a via its ambassador in london to provide a nswe i’s ambassador in london to provide answers in terms of what has

happened. and then potentially as soon as wednesday the prime minister returning to the commons with specifics about precisely what the uk will do in response to what has happened. and in the chamber some suggestions about what might be done, one member of parliament referencing libya and saying we should go for some full—scale expansion of the embassy and the russian officials. do we have any feel for what steps theresa may might take? this is being actively discussed and has been under discussion since the whole story emerged of over a week ago. effectively, what the discussions amount to is what can the uk do in a diplomatic sense that makes a difference, that touches the sides in the kremlin if they do decide thatis in the kremlin if they do decide that is what is necessary. what is on the list of potential actions in this case is perhaps an instruction

to russian stuff that they have to leave the country, often there's a tit—for—tat expulsion and so diplomatic diplomats had been expeued diplomatic diplomats had been expelled from the other country, thatis, expelled from the other country, that is, diplomats from moscow. we saw the idea floated by boris johnson last week, the potential withdrawal of dignitaries who might be travelling as part of the england contingent to the world cup this summer. contingent to the world cup this summer. some have talked about anything being done about the property that many rich russians own in the uk although the prime minister emphasised today that not every of russian heritage living in the uk should be associated with the actions of the russian state, if indeed they are eventually blamed directly by the british government. a range of possibilities and options being actively, some openly discussed in terms of what the government should do. the challenge will be finding something that sends a strong and solid message to

moscow. thank you chris. now the latest from salisbury. duncan kennedy is in salisbury for us. we got a sense that it was another busy day. how would you assess the day's proceedings? it is nonstop. this police operation continues all over the place. not so much in the city centre today, the tent behind me with the attack happened, the restau ra nt, me with the attack happened, the restaurant, the pub nearby, sergei skripal‘s house, the cemetery where his late wife is buried, the scene today was five miles from salisbury where it looked as if experts are taking away at a truck vehicle. sometimes we stumble across these developments and sometimes we don't. there is one going on in salisbury city centre, in a supermarket, a tea m city centre, in a supermarket, a team of experts, who knows from which agency, arrived one hour ago

and started looking at vehicles, objects on the ground, and gain some wearing biohazard objects on the ground, and gain some wearing biohaza rd uniforms objects on the ground, and gain some wearing biohazard uniforms as they have to do in case there are any issues among the objects they examine. we don't know if this is a matter of precaution or if they have been brought to you with specific information, conducting this operation, sealing part of the sainsbury‘s car park as they do and so sainsbury‘s car park as they do and so this operation goes on into the night. as we had theresa may say today that are still hundreds of officers working on this around the clock and she said they had to be given time, whereas politically she can point the finger at russia, yet in terms of the criminal investigation that is nowhere near complete. and all these operations are going on away from the scenes of the public and that's the unfolding operation taking place in the background. the purpose being fat at the end of the day the authorities will want enough evidence to get someone will want enough evidence to get someone into court to bring about a

prosecution. thank you, duncan kennedy, in salisbury. moscow was quick to respond to the prime minister's speech, with the russian foreign ministry calling her statement "a fairy tale" and a "circus show in the british parliament". our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg sent this report from krasnodar. it is where president putin is on a visit. he said this update. in recent days we've heard several russian officials dismissed claims that moscow was linked to this attack as anti—russian hysteria. i think the biggest problem that britain faces right now is the way it's perceived by the kremlin, and it is perceived as a weak country. moscow hears british politicians huffing and puffing but doesn't believe they are capable of blowing the house down. in other words, taking strong measures against moscow. so i think the key question now, if london concludes that this was a state—sponsored act of force against britain, what measures are britain perhaps together with her allies, going to take against russia?

the white house has made a statement condemning the incident in salisbury while press secretary sara sanders did not comment on the possibility of russian involvement she said the us government stood with the uk following what she called the outrageous attack. look, we've been monitoring the incident closely. takeit monitoring the incident closely. take it seriously. the use of a lethal nerve agent against uk citizens on uk soil is an outrage. the attack was reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible. we offer the fullest condemnation and extend our sympathy to the victim and their families and the extend our sympathy to the victim and theirfamilies and the uk government. we stand by our closest ally in the special relationship we have. are you saying russia was behind it? we standing with our uk allies. they are still working through the details. we will continue to work with the uk and we

stand with them throughout this process. if russia used the weapon itself or gave it to a third party, the latter being highly unlikely given the nature of this weapon... we stand with our ally and we fully support them and already we can be of any assistance to them. sarah sanders at the white house. we're joined now by alastair hay, emeritus professor of environmental toxicology at university of leeds. thank you for being with us. so now we have a name for this nerve agent, novichok. what do we know about that genre of chemical weapon? we novichok. what do we know about that genre of chemicalweapon? we know far less about this particular family of chemicals than we do about many other nerve agents. that is pa rt many other nerve agents. that is part of the problem. there is a standard treatment to the different

nerve agents, the ones we are familiar with all we've heard bandied about, like sarin but for agents like novichok is more complicated. does this work on the body in a different way, orjust in a more aggressive way to nerve agents about which more is known? this particularfamily agents about which more is known? this particular family of agent, the novichoks, act in the same way as others we know about. it blocks and essential enzyme that controls m essa 9 es essential enzyme that controls messages from nerves to muscles. that sends nerves into spasms and the net result is that you have inhibition of breathing and people can't breathe, effectively. they are very weak. unless they get treatment prom ptly very weak. unless they get treatment promptly they will die to asphyxiation. so it operates in a

similar way. given anything what can we surmise about the kind of treatment that sergei skripal and his daughter may have been receiving in hospital? they will have received a similar treatment which can turn affects the effects of an agent. atrophine has to be given as long as the effects of the original weapon are present. one chemical effectively removes the nerve agent from this crucial enzyme that we don't know which particular chemicals work well against this type of agent so that will have presented increasing complications to the clinicians. and often you get convulsions with nerve agents and those can be treated. with diazepam. the treatment is broadly the same except there is one ingredient that is more complicated and i think

treating clinicians would perhaps have had to use their best guess about an effective antidote. given the unknowns about novichok, we've been hearing is well from the foreign secretary that they want to see this referred to the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons. how is this playing into regulations and rules internationally about this kind of military grade weapon? when they say military grade weapon? when they say military grade weapon? when they say military grade weapon, in fact they are saying it is very pure, and would probably only be used in a military context. this is a very important point to note. the other thing is, by saying that it should be referred to the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons is in effect saying that this is essentially a chemical weapons programme that ought to have been disclosed, prior to this. and this isa

disclosed, prior to this. and this is a major escalation, if you like. the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons overseas, the chemical weapons treaty, the convention, and under that treaty, states are banned not to attack any other chemical weapon. and if one is attacked, and in essence theresa may is saying that this is a possibility, that we may have been attacked by one state, russia, then the treaty obliges the other members of this treaty to come to the aid of the attacked state. in effect calling on 190 other countries to support it. so there isn't an international mechanism for dealing with this, which there wasn't in the case of alexander litvinenko. with this, which there wasn't in the case of alexander litvinenkom sounds very studious. professor alastair hay thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. much appreciated. you're welcome. and we'll find out how this story —

and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are the broadcaster david davies and lucy fisher, senior political correspondent at the times. sport centre, here's olly. premier league champions elect manchester city play at stoke tonight, a win would take on 16 points clear at the top of the table. and what a start, inside ten minutes this perfect cross from raheem sterling was brilliantly put away by david silva. if city win this and beat everton in the next game they could win the title against manchester united on april seven. it's still going well for manchester city. manchester united captain michael carrick is to retire from playing at the end of the season, he's 36 and has won every clu b season, he's 36 and has won every

club trophy in his 12 years with manchester united including five premier league titles and the champions league. he won 3a england caps. he's only played four times this season after having procedure to detect an irregular heart rhythm discovered in september. he is expected to take up a coaching role with the club. there comes a time, when, as much as you don't like and your body tells you it is time to stop playing football. that's pretty much where i'm at. i wanted a finish on my own terms, not because of that so on my own terms, not because of that so determined to get fit again. i understand i will be getting back fit but i be playing as many games asi fit but i be playing as many games as i might have done, but i'vejust been training hard and trying to keep fit and managed to play a few games, see what happens towards the end of the season. england rugby union head coach eddiejones says his side can take positives from their back—to—back six nations defeats, they will now look to sign of and took on next saturday by

stopping new champions ireland from winning the grandson as well. but speaking to radio five live's rugby union podcastjones says they won't be panicking too much despite those bosses to scotland and france. disappointing in terms of results, no doubt of it but in terms of learning what we need to do to be a better tea m learning what we need to do to be a better team and has been massively important. because sometimes the lure of success covers the cracks within your team and i think that has been the case to some extent. so this hasn't been damaging, it's been absolutely beneficial, as painful as the result has been. no medals for britain on the third day of the winter olympics in south korea, there were high hopes in the snowboard cross but all three britons finished outside the medals is the event was beset by technical issues. kate grey is in pyeongchang. all sorts of problems at the

snowboard. first the event was moved forward due to increasing temperatures, it was 18 degrees in the middle of the days that they had to move it earlier, once the event started they have problems because the start gates weren't dropping down and athletes were falling over them. it had to be replaced with a rope, not idealfor a paralympic games. great britain did have athletes, three athletes competing, none of them made it to the final stages. british flag bearer owen peck said he wasn't happy with the way the event had unfolded. there was talk of cancelling it and doing it another day and i was like, come on, it's the paralympics, we want to raise! it was tough. really tough. it was ashamed that today has gone the way it's gone in general because we wanted to put on a good show. no

medals for britain today but snowboarders will get another chance in the slalom later this week. tomorrow the alpine skiers will go in the super combined. hopefully more medals to come. kate grey in pyeongchang. that's just about it from us this hour. manchester city are still leading stoke 1—0. more in sportsday at 10:30pm. thanks, olly see you later. a 17—year—old has been sentenced to 10 and a half years injail for carrying out a series of acid attacks on moped riders in london lastjuly. derryckjohn, from croydon, sprayed six people with acid in the space of an hour and a half. he stole two mopeds and attempted to take another four. thejudge described his crimes as ‘despicable'. tom burridge reports. he'd thrown acid into the faces of six men. but here's derryckjohn calmly paying for petrol that night. with his visor up, he was linked to this stolen moped but the person

seen here driving him around still hasn't been identified. later, when derryckjohn drove a stolen bike himself, this — an accident which linked him to a string of violent acid attacks. this victim says his face felt like it was on fire. attacked by derryck john while delivering ta keways, jabed hussain is still suffering today. i have to keep my eyes everywhere. i don't trust in the street. if anyone shouts next to me, i get scared. if i want to go out, i always lock my car doors and windows. i used to be busy myself, i'm a working class guy. after the incident, i am totally different. i can't believe myself that i am stuck and alone. today, the 17—year—old was sentenced to ten and a half years in jail. the judge said an adult would have gone to prison for much longer. we are very pleased with the sentencing mrjohn has received, we think it does send a strong message that even as a youth

offender, a ten—year plus sentence still sends a strong message that this will not be tolerated. the same judge sentenced arthur collins, seen here throwing acid across a crowded dance floor, to 20 years in prison. criminals are increasingly using acid as a weapon. it is hoped sending this young man to prison for several years will deter others from the same. tom burridge, bbc news. the trial of a teenager accused of planting a bomb on a london underground train has heard that he blamed britain for the death of his father in iraq. 18 year—old ahmed hassan denies attempted murder and causing an explosion on the tube train at parsons green last september. giving evidence today, a college lecturer said she'd heard the student saying it was his "duty to hate britain". sky has suspended the football pundit jamie carragher after footage emerged of him spitting through a car window at a teenage girl and her father.

the former liverpool and england footballer described it as a "moment of madness" after he was goaded. he said he would apologise again to the family. andy swiss's report contains footage of the incident. jamie carragher, look! he is one of football's most famous pundits, but after being spotted by a fan on sunday, jamie carragher winds down his window and this happens. unlucky, jamie, lad. 2—1, lad. he spat on me. "he spat on me" — the voice of the driver's 14—year—old daughter. jamie carragher spat on my daughter, nice. carragher, who had just watched his former club liverpool lose, said he'd been goaded and lost his rag. have you been sacked? but this morning, he arrived in london to be told he'd been suspended from hisjob with sky sports. carragher, who has a 14—year—old daughter himself, admitted his

behaviour was unacceptable. it looks awful and i accept that. it's not something i've done before, it's not something i will do again. i'm sure of that. i've had a moment of madness, i made a big, huge mistake, a stain on my character. i have to accept that. i have let my family down, but i think the family i've let down more than anyone is the people in the car. well, what jamie carragher did on his way home from the match at old trafford has been strongly condemned by his employers. in a statement, sky said his behaviour fell well below the standards they expect. the question now is whether his apology will be enough to save his job. carragher was supposed to be on sky's coverage tonight but won't now take his customary place in the studio. his transition to tough—talking pundit from tough—tackling player had seemed seamless, but after retiring on the pitch, his new career could yet face an early farewell. sir ken dodd, one of the most

popular entertainers of his time, has died at the age of 90. he was a man who brought happiness and tears of laughter to thousands of people with his legendary live performances during a career which spanned more than 60 years. david sillito looks back at his colourful life. the tickling sticks, the wild hair and surreal flights of fancy were only a part of it. ken dodd was a torrent ofjokes. his shows would often end in the early hours of the morning. geronimo! thank you very much! what a beautiful day for going up to count von zeppelin and saying, "you'll never sell a sausage that size!" offstage, he was very private, but one of his close circle of friends was his joke writer, john martin. i always say writing jokes for sir ken dodd was almost like being asked to mix the paints for van gogh,

it was that big an honour. hiya, doddy. how are you diddling?! tears, in 1965 was one of the biggest selling singles of the 1960s. his run at the london palladium broke records. john bishop, brian conley, les dennis, david walliams, comedians have been lining up today to pay tribute. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ken dodd! when he walked on, the place used to go up and he hadn't even said anything! now, that doesn't happen very often! how tickled we were! how tickled we are! he would fire the gags out at you! in liverpool we call it "hur". we always say "the judy

with the furr hurr." he stayed loyal to liverpool, living all his life in the same house, where three days ago he finally married anne, his partner of a0 years. i've been overwhelmed by the love and affection which i've already received from dear friends and the public. and i thank you all for being here. there was the issue of his tax affairs, but he was acquitted and itjust became more material for his act. the job i fancy is chancellor of the exchequer — at least i'd be reunited with my money! he was one of the last links to music hall. ken dodd — it really is the end of an era. remembering sir ken dodd, and we

will be speaking with his friend and fellow comichmmy tarbuck. we still have rain around chiefly central and eastern parts of england, lingering longest across east anglia and the south—east, before moving away, a lot of cloud on the scene, mist and fog, clearer skies coming into northern ireland, lozowski law three degrees. sunshine on the way, dry day to come on tuesday, sunny skies for a while, developing and western scotland, wales, the western side of england, the eastern side of the uk, more cloud around, one or two showers, but on the whole, should be dry, temperatures will nudge up, typically ten or 11 degrees. wednesday, gets windy, dales out towards the west, ahead of the bands of rain that are rotating

around the area of low pressure. for many of us through the day, dry and bright, a little bit of sunshine, temperatures in double figures, 1a or 15 degrees. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. the prime minister says a military grade nerve agent, the type developed by russia, was used to poison the former spy sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury. the government has concluded that it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the act against sergei and yulia skripal. meanwhile, a sainsbury‘s car park in salisbury city centre is the latest place to be sealed off by police as investigations continues. a teenager who carried out a string of acid attacks on moped riders in order to steal their scooters has

beenjailed for ten and a half years. a life—enhancing, brilliant, creative comedian, the words of sir ken dodd's wife, as she pays tribute to her husband, who's died at the age of 90. more now on theresa may's confirmation that former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by russia. she said it was ‘highly likely‘ that russia was behind the attack. we can speak now to the independent chemical weapons expert, doctor richard guthrie. thank you very much for being with us, we thank you very much for being with us, we are thank you very much for being with us, we are talking now about an agent known as novichok, what can you tell us about it? a group of agents travel developed by the russians, the, novichoks discovered in the 1970s but not develop until the 1990s, the

russians never formally acknowledge their existence, and the second, the second reason they are controversial, it was then possible to add some of these chemicals and their precursors, the chemicals you could use as bulging blocks to the file product, within the schedules of the chemical weapons convention, which controls chemical weapons around the world. —— the novichoks. in terms of somebody choosing to use this kind of nerve agent, the fact it seems even more deadly than one of its predecessors but there are also issues about the way that it is created which may make it slightly more, one could say easier to use, easier to transport than other chemical weapons. different nerve agents have different properties, and the novichoks as well as the more traditional nerve agents have a variety of subspecies, which are often selected for their properties, such as whether they are remain stuck to a surface, to be a contact poison. so it is quite clearly

possible that some of the novichoks will fulfil the criteria that you would want for this sort of assassination attempt, such as being assassination attempt, such as being a co nta ct assassination attempt, such as being a contact poison it can be spread on a material, spread on a service, spread on an object, then the target handles it, the material enters through the skin. the prime minister has been speaking today about the role she sees potentially for russia here, and the finger is pointing in that direction, what is your thought on that, is it possible that this is the kind of weapon that could have been developed elsewhere alongside the russian programme? there is a number of the novichoks, the details of them were published in a book in 2008, by a former russian scientist, but a number of other laboratories around the world, government laboratories, found it quite difficult to reproduce the synthesis of these materials, so they had a certain mythical status, when there

we re certain mythical status, when there were questions about whether they really work. other information coming out from russia clearly indicated the russians felt they had worked out a way of putting these highly toxic chemicals together, in an effective form of synthesis. that means that it will be difficult for any other lab to be copying this. it's any other lab to be copying this. it‘s not inconceivable, it could be a troublemaker somewhere in the world, attempting to make the russians look bad, by carrying out something that everyone would jump to the conclusion that it was the russians. as more and more evidence is coming out, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that that is less and less likely, and it is more likely to come from the laboratories in russia that developed these things originally. final thought, the fact it has been confirmed as a novichok, does that make any difference to what the public are being told about how seriously people in salisbury should be taking this potential threat?|j don‘t be taking this potential threat?” don‘t think it makes any great

difference, chemically they have a lot of similarities to the more well—known nerve agents, many similar properties in their use. the threat, the risks of any residual material is very low. it is a very significant event, on the international stage, to have a confirmation that a novichok is being used, the russians will have a lot to answer for in the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons in the hague, the body which deals with chemical weapons convention. they have before refused previously to acknowledge these chemicals exist, i think there isa these chemicals exist, i think there is a lot of openness that is now required. thank you very much for joining us. stay with that thought, the suggestion the russians may have a lot to answer for. we can turn to the politics and the international diplomacy angle. joining me now from westminster is the labour peer and barrister, lady helena kennedy. in the house of commons with her

from the prime minister, her statement and her suggestion of where this may be coming from, what did you make of how the prime minister had to say? very interesting that she used the term highly likely, that this came from russia, because if you like, as a lawyer, i would say there are stages, it is possible, it is very possible, it is likely, and then it is highly likely. and we are not quite beyond reasonable doubt but we are really high on the hierarchy of evidential proof. and so the finger is certainly pointing at russia, and one of the issues that she mentions was, was it russia behind this, or was, was it russia behind this, or was it somehow subcontracted out, or, was it chemicals found their way into the hands of people who had affected some poisoning. but even that suggests that somehow, the stage has not been run in an

appropriate way and there is a level of responsibility to bear. it is all pointing, because you have the meetings with our intelligence services and she met with those who are really looking at their own evidential sources, which are, if you like, closed, she has had the opportunity for looking at that and she has said that it is highly likely it comes from russia. that is very serious, it means we have had on british soil a russian state—sponsored criminal act which has had dire consequences. and so, we are looking at something very serious here, you have to decide how you will handle that. obviously, she has asked the russian ambassador to respond, and there's 24 hours for him to take instructions and to do so. him to take instructions and to do so. but i go back to the fact that we really do need what is known as magnet school or, why do i say that, the answer in parliament was, we already have sown our own

legislation in dealing with dirty money, with... we have criminal proceeds act, money—laundering activity and so on. —— magnitsky law. that is not the way to go. there are people living in britain, london, belgravia, living here, and they are very close to vladimir putin, oligarchs, incredibly rich people, their money is willing around in oursystem, people, their money is willing around in our system, they choose to come here because it is a much nicer place to live than russia, for them, they want to educate their children here and live the high life here and buy property, and watch we should be doing is hitting them where it hurts, turning up the heat on those people who are vladimir putin's friends because interdependence means they are the people who died amid putin will listen to when he says, you have two sort this. i would like to see the government creating a magnitsky law, which basically freezes the assets of many of those people living here, and i would like to see the government

refusing visas to some of those oligarchs who get a free pass to come into this country. angharad and borisjohnson come into this country. angharad and boris johnson have come into this country. angharad and borisjohnson have said they will move forward with the magnitsky act, do you think that they have been dragging theirfeet? do you think that they have been dragging their feet? —— do you think that they have been dragging theirfeet? —— amber rudd. this has been under discussion for a long time, we have seen it in demented by barack obama in the united states. we had to fight tooth and nailto united states. we had to fight tooth and nail to get legislation into the criminal finance act, we have the same problem with the sanctions bill, that has still not been completed, and i have a private members bill into the house of lords just before christmas and it was about visas, about creating visa bans on people we have questions against. the government did not want to hear, support all round the house, conservatives, liberal, labour, crossbench support, and what was interesting was the government ke pt was interesting was the government kept saying, we have got enough powers. we do not use them in the way we want to see them used. we

have to make people feel that the way they want to live their lives is going to be affected by this and that will be the thing that will make the rule of law gain some traction. this is where every have leveraged and we have to use the leveraged, and at the moment, the government has been loath to do that because we benefit greatly from this money coming in and property and in the city and our brokers are dealing with all their investment portfolio. all i would say is, if those men with the money £2.— thanks law and human rights. many thanks for your thank very much has. the ——

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