hello, it's tuesday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. and we're live from new broadcasting house. trans patients are waiting up to three years to see a specialist, this programme can reveal today. it's why some people are taking matters into their own hands by buying hormones from unregulated sources on the internet. it basically felt like a choice between suicide and self medication, because i did not deal with the thought of further masculinisation, in my case. two british tourists who are on the diamond princess cruise liner quarantined in japan say they have tested positive for the coronovirus, as the british government tries to sort a plane to bring them home.

last year a viewer emailed our programme to tell us she had been conceived by rape — and she wanted her father prosecuted. i'd always thought it was so wrong that my birth father was never prosecuted. it was then that i thought, i've got dna evidence, because i am dna evidence. i'm a walking crime scene. today, an update on that story — we can reveal that a man has been arrested and is under investigation. we'll bring you all the details. and the father of the wikileaks founderjulian assange tells this programme his son will face effectively a death sentence if he is sent to the us to face trial. mr assange‘s extradition hearing begins next week. i can't speculate on to his state of mind. but i imagine that he would be

really worried, because being sent to the united states is a death sentence. hi, welcome to the programme. we're live until 11 this morning. if you're trans and are waiting a very long time to see a specialist, do get in touch. why are you uwaiting so long, what have been told and what effect is it having on you? use the hashtag #victorialive. email victoria@bbc.co.uk, text 61124 — it'll cost the standard network rate. first annita mcveigh has the news. thank you, victoria. good morning. the river wye at monmouth has reached the highest level ever recorded, following the heavy rain

brought by storm dennis. dozens of people have spent the night away from home as nearly 200 flood warnings remain in place across parts of the uk. one woman died after being swept away in floodwater in worcestershire. there are currently ten severe flood warnings in england and wales, meaning there's a danger to life. the foreign office says it is organising a flight back to the uk as soon as possible for the 7a british passengers on the cruise ship, diamond princess, which is in quarantine offjapan because of the coronavirus. this morning a british couple who have been critical of the government's response, david and sally abel, said they have tested positive for the virus. more than a50 people on board have been diagnosed with the illness. the news from japan this morning is that another 88 people have coronavirus. europe's biggest bank, hsbc, has announced it's to cut 35,000 jobs globally over the next three years. hsbc has seen its annual profits drop by a third, to around £10 billion — largely because of its european

investment and commercial banking operations. the bank's interim chief executive, noel quinn, warned that it was "not delivering acceptable returns. " it's the third restructuring plan in a decade. transgender patients are choosing to self—medicate with hormones bought online from unregulated sources due to waiting times to see nhs specialists. in many areas, some patients wait over two years to be seen, new figures seen by this programme show — england's target time is 18 weeks. nhs england said it had increased investment to respond to rising demand. law student kara told the victoria derbyshire programme she began buying oestrogen last summer online, to begin her transition. it obviously was my choice, but i feel like i've been basically forced into it, because in no way, shape orform do i want to be taking hormones not under the guidance of a

medical professional. the father of wikileaks founder julian assange has told this programme his son would face what is effectively a "death sentence" were he sent to the united states to face trial. the us wants the founder of the wikileaks website to face 18 charges of attempted hacking and breaches of the espionage act. john shipton raised concerns over his son's health ahead of a controversial extradition hearing starting next week. labour and the liberal democrats have said borisjohnson has questions to answer after the resignation of a downing street adviser with controversial views on eugenics, unplanned pregnancies and race. andrew sabisky quit last night — blaming media hysteria about what he called his "old stuff online" — some of which had suggested intelligence has a racial component and that compulsory contraception could avoid creating a "permanent underclass". the newjames bond theme no time to die only took three days

to write, billie eilish and her producer and brother finneas o'connell have said. in an exclusive interview with bbc breakfast, they've speaking about the song, as well as their experiences with social media ahead of billie‘s performance at tonight's 40th brit awards. and that is a summary of the main news so and that is a summary of the main news so far. back to you, victoria. welcome, we are still here, victoria derbyshire with you until 11. this programme can reveal that trans patients are waiting up to three years to see specialists, and some are choosing to self—medicate with hormones bought online. freedom of information data we've obtained exclusively has found that in all but one of the uk's 13 gender identity clinics you can end up waiting over a year to be seen. in belfast, you can wait up to 166 weeks, in nottinghamshire up to 145. in england, the target waiting time isjust 18 weeks.

0ur reporter mike cowan has been investigating the risks some people are taking with unregulated drugs because they aren't getting the care they need. imagine you are diagnosed with a medical condition, and for that you are entitled to see a specialist within 18 weeks. for thousands of people of gender dysphoria, they are waiting in excess of two and a half yea rs waiting in excess of two and a half years just to have an initial appointment. data obtained exclusively by this programme has found every trust in england is consistently missing their target of 18 weeks. the longer stay patient has waited in the uk is in northern ireland, at over three years. their target is to be seen within 52

weeks. the shortest waiting time is a highland gender identity clinic in scotland, at 32 weeks. london's tavistock penick were not able to provide accurate figures, but anecdotal evidence points to patients waiting up to half years to be seen —— tavistock clinic. nottingham has the longest waiting england atjust nottingham has the longest waiting england at just under three nottingham has the longest waiting england atjust under three years. these excessive waiting times are leading to an increasing number of people stepping into the unknown and buying hormones online. like 20—year—old law student kara. last summer 20—year—old law student kara. last summer she started buying oestrogen, the hormone trans women use. this will begin her transition until she can be seen at a clinic. she has been on the waiting list for two yea rs been on the waiting list for two years and hopes to be seen in the

next 12 months. how does it feel when you have made this decision and you had said yes, i will change my gender, and then you are told, 0k, you have to wait two and a half yea rs 7 you have to wait two and a half years? i was very, very low and suicidal. i will not say it was 100% com pletely suicidal. i will not say it was 100% completely because of that, but many people have lots of things going on in their lives, so when you have something as big as that which affects you so much, it doesn't take much else to kind of push you to that point. last year when you were referred and you find out how long there was to wait, you went through quite a difficult time?|j there was to wait, you went through quite a difficult time? i was sectioned, yes. and... ithink that it's a massive part of it, because at that time i was not self—medicating. at that time i was not self-medicating. is it fair that you had to make that decision?m

obviously was my choice, but i feel like i have been basically forced into it, because in no way, shape or form to want to be taking hormones not under the guidance of a medical professional. i was so low before that it basically felt like a choice between suicide or self—medicating, because i could not deal with the thought of further masculinisation, in my case. were you nervous the first time you took the pills, because you did not know what they we re because you did not know what they were 01’ because you did not know what they were or where they came from?” because you did not know what they were or where they came from? i was so were or where they came from? i was so scared, i know everything about the oestrogen but not those specific ta blets, the oestrogen but not those specific tablets, if they are what they say they are, i do not have the funds to get it tested so it is a guessing game with your life, it could be anything. i was absolutely petrified. 0estrogen is a

prescription only projects but if it is for personal use you can legally import it without a perception —— prescription only projects. testosterone is a classy drug and it is illegal to sell it, punishable by up is illegal to sell it, punishable by up to 1a years injail, but it is not illegal to buy or sell for personal use provided it is not brought into the country via the postal system —— testosterone is a class c drug. we wanted to see how easy it was to buy both types of hormones online. they are charging £109 for a drug which costs less than a tenner on the nhs. you are effectively being asked to give huge sums of money to a website you have never heard of not based in the uk and to pay sometimes via bitcoin or bank transfer. that is not the side ofa bank transfer. that is not the side of a legitimate company. and it wasn't. 0ut of a legitimate company. and it wasn't. out of the four projects we ordered, only three turned up. two

we re ordered, only three turned up. two were oestrogen —based, one testosterone. we have sent them to a laboratory to test their authenticity. while we wait for the results, i have been to meet a doctor at the sheffield gender identity clinic. how dangerous is it to self—medicating ? identity clinic. how dangerous is it to self-medicating? if you take testosterone there is a risk of a condition which can lead to spontaneous cutting of the blood. there is an increased risk of clotting if you take oestrogen, a risk of liver problems, it affects various parameters in your blood and if it is not being monitored by a gp, somebody is not having regular blood tests, they are putting themselves at risk. what drives somebody to self—medicating ? themselves at risk. what drives somebody to self—medicating?”

themselves at risk. what drives somebody to self-medicating? i think people are self—medicating because they have a strong sense of having a significant gender identity difficulty and obviously it goes without saying because there is a long waiting time to be seen in a clinic, some people do not want to wait that length of time. it has been about two weeks since we sent the samples off, and today we will get the results. doctor walker, you had tested the three drugs we sent you, what did you find? let's start with one of the oestrogen pills? you, what did you find? let's start with one of the oestrogen pill57m with one of the oestrogen pills7m contained something which it claims to contain. tell me about the second oestrogen —based project? to contain. tell me about the second oestrogen -based project? again, it contains what it claims to contain, in this case a type of oestrogen. the third project we said she was testosterone, what did you find? ——

the third project. it claims to contain four esters of testosterone, my analysis federally two. the two oestrogen —based projects appear authentic but the testosterone we bought claim to be made up of four different types of the drug. doctor walker only fed two. —— only found two, one of which was not listed on the vial. this indicates a counterfeit project from an unknown source. you would not recommend people take this? it has no safety features, like you say?|j people take this? it has no safety features, like you say? i would not recommend it. it is a prescription only medicine and you should only really ta ke a ny only medicine and you should only really take any of these under medical supervision. lucas began his transition six years ago when he was 29 after being told

he would face a team into healthier weight for age identity maghera for a gender identity clinic appointment, he took matters into his own hands and bought testosterone online. self-medication is scary, unpleasant and potentially dangerous but better than the alternative. i won't be the only person who had this experience. you are so person who had this experience. you are so relieved and so excited you kind of don't care. although none of the adverse reaction —— although i had not of the adverse reaction, i feel the quality contained was most lower and i suspect some of the doses i got were effectively nothing. i did not stop growing any facial hair at all until i moved on to actual prescribed testosterone. just explain how you feel when you are told you have to wait one half yea rs are told you have to wait one half years to even be seen? it is

distressing and dehumanising. dozens and dozens and dozens of people misgender me everyday at work, because every call i take, thank you, miss. that just because every call i take, thank you, miss. thatjust was not something i could do any more. people die on that waiting list. i know of at least one person who did commit suicide on that waiting list. it kills people and it can't sit at the bottom of the nhs‘s to do list forever. at some point, something is going to give, and i don't know whether that will be a sufficient body count or water. —— or what.

ryan has e—mailed to say thank you for covering the nhs waiting times fading trans people, i have only now completed my medical transition after seven yea rs completed my medical transition after seven years of mostly being stuck on waiting lists. the current situation will extend the process by at least two or three years for most people. that is ten years of not being able to live your life, affecting your mental health, relationships, work and other areas, no wonder we self—medicating. so many others have experience of self—harm, suicide attempts, unemployment and homelessness because of falling through the cracks of the system and increasing hostility towards trans and queer people. this has to stop. rachel says i am a trans woman, i had been waiting for my first appointment for two years. waiting for my first appointment for two yea rs. i waiting for my first appointment for two years. i am told i have another year to wait. as it was, i had taken it into my own hands and an selling my house to pay for my surgery.

tracy says i have been waiting over 18 months for a gender clinic appointment and have heard it will be at least another 19 months before any chance of one, more like four yea rs any chance of one, more like four years as predicted. michael is our reporter, what is being done to try to combat these extraordinary long waiting times? a few things are being turned at the moment. in the last five years there has been unprecedented demand for these services and whilst there has been an increase in patients they have not necessarily been able to increase the amount of staff, and staff is a real issue. there is no direct pathway into gender health care, it relies on people in the field having an interest in gender ca re field having an interest in gender care to go into it, but that is changing. the royal of physicians had started that gender identity health care credential, that means people will have a direct qualification to go into those gender identity clinics. it is

crucial to understand this will all ta ke crucial to understand this will all take time and in the short—term, there is unlikely to be any shortening of these waiting lists. nhs england says they have invested more money this year, and later in the year will be doing a trial in london to look at how you can increase capacity and shorten waiting lists, and if that is successful they could look at why we miss out all over the country. we asked nhs england for an interview but they declined. a spokesperson said: "as more people feel able to seek support and treatment the demand for gender identity services has greatly increased, and in recent years we've increased investment to respond the scottish government said: "long waiting times for patients referred to gender identity clinics are unacceptable. these clinics are a very specialised resource, and while people are waiting to be assessed they still have access to a full range of community mental health and well—being services appropriate to their situation and needs." let's talk now to jess jolliffe who used to self—medicate, but now secures her prescriptions privately while she waits to be seen at a clinic, sarah armstrong

who transitioned five years ago and was given hormones by her gp so she didn't have to self—medicate, and kirrin medcalf who is the head of trans inclusion at stonewall. thank you all for coming on the programme, i really appreciate your time. i want you to react to the length of some of these waiting times, first of all. —— waiting times. it makes it such a struggle when you know you have such a fight, both on waiting times and society. it is horrendous that waiting times like that are there. we have had so many like that are there. we have had so ma ny texts, like that are there. we have had so many texts, martin says i am trans and have been waiting 136 weeks now, it will be three years before i get my first appointment, i have self medicated for two years and have now gone private for my hormones, this is so bad. seven years ago i waited to see the specialist, says another

viewer, and another six months. is appointment. my friends had double the weight these days. hormones are not prescribed until at least the second appointment, a three—year wait for some. kirrin from stonewall, how do you respond? wait for some. kirrin from stonewall, how do you respond ?m wait for some. kirrin from stonewall, how do you respond? it is appalling that people do not have safe choices to make and make ones that put the health at risk because there is not adequate nhs resources to support people. syrah, do you sympathise with people who self medicate? exactly, the sheer waiting time gets people to the point of being at sheer desperation. when you first come out you get to the point of being absolutely the lowest of the low, so you are looking for help. you go to your gp, fortunately in my case i did, but in normal terms you have to weights, and the other thing is you get the referral

but no communication back. not saying sorry, you are on the mate —— you are on the waiting list and you have to wait x, you get nothing. jess, you used to self—medicating. i wa nt jess, you used to self—medicating. i want you to talk us through why you got to that point? when i realised i was trans and came out to myself and understand thai understood this is who i needed to be, —— understood this is who i needed to be, i knew i had to do something. 0therwise this is who i needed to be, i knew i had to do something. otherwise you have this huge journey and the last thing you want to hear is that it will be 18 or 2a months before anybody want to talk to you, so i felt i had to take matters into my own hands. i was 27 when i started, the longer you leave starting your transition, statistically the worst your results are. it is fighting a

biological process, so the younger you are when you start that, there are things that start happening the older you are so at this very important to me that i started this journey as soon i couldn't i needed to get on with it. you want to feel you are doing something constructive, even if you are buying something unregulated from the internet, you felt you were doing something? i went into it with reckless abandon because i needed to start this journey. if it works, amazing, if the negative health aspects crept in, i did not really pairat aspects crept in, i did not really pair at that time because i was in such a spot where i knew that this was what i needed and i needed to go ahead. if you had not gone down the self—medication route and you waited and waited and waited, what effect did you think it would have had on you? the stress would have been unbearable. it is already really tough having to sit and wait and pay

for all of these things myself, it would have been even worse knowing i was just waiting it out. i would still not be seen by any gender identity clinic even if i referred myself at the moment that i knew i was trans. this e-mail says i am a 20—year—old trans woman who has been waiting 28 months. as this was taking so long i decided to go to a private clinic while waiting to stop my hormone treatment. they gave me a psychological assessment, an appointment with the specialist and i see that every six months. each appointment costs £150. luckily my gp describes me the hormones as recommended by the clinic. even though it is a huge amount of money for me, i do not know what i would do without it. the clinic has been amazing and help me so much, although it has been 28 months i have no idea when my first nhs appointment will be. i hope it is soon because i cannot afford to do more privately. sarah, you know

somebody who entered a hospital, who had bought stuff off the internet?” know two, they bought off the internets, became ill and know two, they bought off the internets, became illand i know two, they bought off the internets, became ill and i thought i knew what it was. there was a tingling in my brain that that was the problem that they were self—medicating —— there was that inkling in my brain. i handed it to the doctor at the hospital, took one look at it, walked away and they came back and said it was false. they tested it and it was not what it should have been. it nearly killed her. good god. kirrin, we have messages from people saying the nhs is really stretched. this one from twitter, it is not a matter of life or death, funding should be and is prioritised for magical areas which save the most lives and are most beneficial for the uk

population. jane on twitter, nhs have more urgent life or death ailments to deal with, anyone not happy with the gender they were born with can wait. what you say to that? being trans, and when people want to transition medically, it is a genuine medical need. if you look at the side effect of not transitioning, 50% of trans people la st transitioning, 50% of trans people last year thought about committing suicide. if people do not get access to this treatment it puts pressure on the nhs, where people are made ill because of taking meds online or because they have self— harm is because they have self— harm is because they have self— harm is because they cannot deal with waiting, it is a genuine need to access this medical care. i think there could be some stuff around they should not have to go to a doctor to get a signature to say they are allowed to change the gender on they are allowed to change the genderon their they are allowed to change the gender on their passport, but for things like hormone treatment and surgery things like hormone treatment and surgery i think people should have

access to informed medical support individualised to them. would you say it is a matter of life—and—death? say it is a matter of life-and-death? absolutely, people die on the waiting lists. the struggle and stress of being trans is very difficult to comprehend. you can tell us now, we know there will be some people watching who think you have made a choice and it is your choice, so whatever the consequences are, you must deal with it. absolutely, and that fails to ta ke it. absolutely, and that fails to take into account that when you realise your entire life is not who you want to be, it makes it very unbearable to try to live everyday almost pretending to be something you are not, under the struggle of knowing this is not right for me, it isa knowing this is not right for me, it is a little voice screaming in your brain the whole time telling you this is not who i should be, that is a lot to deal with and can very easily be overwhelming. sarah, you we re easily be overwhelming. sarah, you were telling me earlier that when you were reaching the point where you were reaching the point where

you were reaching the point where you were thinking i might need to transition, everything in your brain would say no, don't do this. don't do it, why am i thinking this way? it literally plays with your mind. it literally plays with your mind. it is as simple as that. you get to a situation where you need to do something about it, and the waiting list exacerbates the situation. nicola says the situation has been the same for several years, the nhs even advised me how i could order hormones online. i did that for a year also be forcing a private doctor and my gp eventually prescribed oestrogen. i paid for virtually all treatment privately. a number of people say they are getting a privately, hrt delivers oestrogen which is something that trans women need. 0k, we heard mike say there is a shortage of specialists, that it's one of the reasons there is such a long wait.

what do you say to that, kirrin? there needs to be better resourcing in the nhs, either with having more clinicians... but even if they put a lot more money into this area it will still take time for those medics to come through, do you accept that? yes, in the meantime there needs to be more support for gps to know what the general medical council guidances around bridging prescriptions and for there to be mental health support and counselling available to trans people while they are on those waiting lists. one more from veronica, the desire to self educate was so strong. i was fortunate, i had private counselling and was prescribed hrt earlier than the weight at the time. the nhs took over my medication control eventually but i kid you not, the waiting was a killer. thank you all for coming on the programme, i really appreciate it. and our actionline website is bbc.co.uk/actionline. if you need help, there are loads

of organisations listed there who can do that. or you can call the number on your screen right now - 08000155 998. please keep your e—mails coming in and you can't message us on twitter. —— you can message us. coming up later in the programme... we'll bring you an update on a story we brought you last year, about a viewer who contacted our programme claiming she had been conceived by rape. she was trying to pursue a so—called "victimless prosecution". and we'll speak to the father of the founder of wikileaks julian assange. he tells this programme his son will face effectively a death sentence if he is sent to the us to face trial. nine severe floods warnings — meaning there's a danger to life — are in place in england and wales this morning. it's the continuing impact of storm dennis which swept across the uk over the weekend. there are also more than 200 flood warnings as some rivers remain at unprecedented levels. towns and cities along

the river severn in herefordshire and worcestershire have been particularly affected. in hereford the river wye has reached its highest ever levels and is now a city under water. in upton—upon—severn 300 properties were evacuated overnight and ross—on—wye has also been badly affected and the river there expected to peak this afternoon. nearby monmouthshire has also been hit hard. labour says it's a disgrace that borisjohnson has refused to visit affected communities. downing street says the prime minister is receiving regular updates. yesterday, the environment secretary george eustice defended the government's response and said it could not protect every home. let's speak to debbie mcnally, the landlady of the hope and anchor pub in ross—0n—wye in herefordshire, which has been severely flooded. also ben willcock who owns mr ben's barbers in tenbury wells, in worcestershire — and has also been

devastated by the floods. welcome both of you and thank you for giving us your time, i'm sure you've got way better things to do but they tell us about what happened to your pub yesterday?” but they tell us about what happened to your pub yesterday? i woke up at 5:30am, toa to your pub yesterday? i woke up at 5:30am, to a of noise. i went downstairs, the seller was flooded. we fought till about half 11 trying to keep the water back, then we gave up to keep the water back, then we gave up and we arejust to keep the water back, then we gave up and we are just totally underwater. it's up to the seller ceiling and about two feet in the pub itself. that sounds absolutely devastating and it's notjust you, of course. does it matter to give the prime minister comes to visit you, to see the damage for or not? no, because he can't do anything to make it better, it makes no odds whatsoever. i haven't received a visit from any local councillor, i don't expect anyone to come down,

u nfortu nately. don't expect anyone to come down, unfortunately. graham, the environment secretary said yesterday they cannot protect every home from flooding, sadly, that is true, isn't it? it is, but what local people did a couple of years ago, they built an underwater tunnel to protect the town which push the water into the river, we get flooded on a more regular basis. i see. graham, hello, can you hear me 0k? it's not graham, it's ben, i am so sorry, please forgive me. i wait prefer it's ben, i am so sorry, please forgive me. iwait prefer do you wa nt forgive me. iwait prefer do you want boris johnson to forgive me. iwait prefer do you want borisjohnson to come to your area and see what it's like? totally unnecessary, i don't see what he's going to do. do you think the cobra emergency committee meeting should be recalled to deal with this national disaster? it's a natural disaster as opposed to a national disaster, it's rain, what is boris

johnson going to do, stop it raining? i suppose the argument from some people is more attention, money, resources could go on looking at further flood defences yes, but you are just increasing the problem as far as i can see, it's like trapping the end of the hose pipe, you increase the force and you move it somewhere else. what would you say is the answer? i'm not an environmentalist, asking me, you're asking the wrong person, my shop is full of water, i now have a big clean—up operation, i want to continue a lifestyle by making money, other than that, you are probably interviewing the wrong person in that respect. but i'm really interested in you and your pragmatic and rather optimistic attitude, you know? tell me how you're feeling. i feel absolutely fine, other than the fact i have customers sticking their head round the door wondering when we are going to be open and they can get their hair cut. i've had customers coming

into my shop today, one customer coming back in his own time, who uses a commercial steam vacuum to clean my shop, that shows the kind of community spirit and the british checkup charlie attitude that i think is fantastic. do give a big plug for your shop, why don't you? it is mr benz burberrys, we are here ten years. i've been doing this 30 years, i've seen the flooding before. it'sjust mad in the shop, we will clean it up, it'll be a conversation piece for the next month. until it happens again. it's going to be costing me £1000 a year. it's 13 years since the last blood, ididn't it's 13 years since the last blood, i didn't bother paying the insurance, i've £13,000 for replacement furniture. i reckon it will cost me three or four, i will

probably go on a nice holiday. you are so uplifting, i love it. debbie, in terms of the cost of the damage to your pub, how much do you reckon? tens of thousands of pounds. the seller has got to be totally replaced. all the bar equipment has got to be replaced. it's affected our coffee shop next door, everything there. it's about four feet deep in the coffee shop. tens and tens of thousands of pounds. thank you very much for coming on the programme, we appreciate it. thank you so much and take care. last year, a one of our viewers emailed us to tell us her extraordinary story. ‘vicky‘ — not her real name — told us she believed she had been conceived during a rape. she says her mum was 13 when she was raped by a family friend, who was in his 30s. years later, when vicky became aware of what had happened, vicky reported the case and asked police to consider a so—called

"victimless prosecution" using her dna as evidence of the crime. but she says she was told no case could be brought because she wasn't the alleged victim. but since we reported vicky's story last year, there's been a major development. 0ur reporter emma ailes is here to tell us more. fill us in. we can't report now as the result of the coverage on the programme the police opened an investigation, there has been an arrest now, one man arrested on suspicion of rape and he has been bailed. the police have said the case to the crown prosecution service for advice we should know in about a month for the decision is. —— we can fill you in. about a month for the decision is. -- we can fill you in. tell me how the story came about, vicky got in touch with the programme, you better what did she tell you? she told me she had grown up knowing she was adopted and she wanted to find her birth parents so when she turned 18

she went to social services and asked for her files and a social worker told her and she saw written in the files, the allegation that her mum had been a 13—year—old schoolgirl in the 70s, and also the allegation that her father had been allegation that her father had been a man in his 30s, it was alleged he had raped her birth mother when she visited the house and she told me it was completely devastating to find this out, she had no idea growing up that was the case. but she was still determined to meet her birth mother so she tracked her down and she told me what it was like, the experience of meeting herfor me what it was like, the experience of meeting her for the first time and we can see a clip of the film we made about the story, in which we use an actor to portray her words. i walked off the train and she was there. ican i walked off the train and she was there. i can only imagine how it must have felt seeing me as an adult. she said she had always hoped i would find her but it wasn't some soft focus moment or loving embrace.

it wasjust, really soft focus moment or loving embrace. it was just, really surreal. it wasn't until decades later when thejimmy it wasn't until decades later when the jimmy savile case under other historic cases were in the news, that i really thought about trying to do anything about it. if this allegation was recorded at the time, did professionals then take any action? no, the file suggests the police, social workers, health professionals all knew about the allegations at the time and nothing was done and this was something that vicky found very hard to deal with and understand. as we heard, it was only decades later when there were a lot of historical sexual abuse cases in the news following thejimmy savile case that she decided i want to do something about this and she took some action. she went to eve ryo ne took some action. she went to everyone she could think of to talk

about what she had found out about in the fans. unfortunately she was told by the police and social workers, bite lawyers and mps that she was not the victim of the crime and therefore in no case could be brought. this was something that she looked into and she wanted the police to consider pursuing a victimless prosecution, that is also known as an evidence—based persecution and that is sometimes used in cases where for example domestic abuse cases, where a victim does not want to give a statement or testify. her argument was that the police could potentially look at dna evidence, also look at birth certificates that show the edges of her mother and father and consider bringing a case on those grounds. and she also has been arguing that the definition of what constitutes a victim should be looked at and potentially change, she says her whole life has been affected by the allegations that she was born of a crime and she wants to see some kind of recognition of that and potential

change. because she feels she's an alleged victim as well? exactly. 0k. how does she feel now that there has been an arrest in this case?|j how does she feel now that there has been an arrest in this case? i think this is really, really significant for her, after years and years of trying to get people to listen to her story, finally the police are investigating and there has been some progress so she's really pleased about that. and she says she wa nts to pleased about that. and she says she wants to look at whether there could be things that are changed for people who are conceived of rape and actually, since we did this story on the programme we had a number of other people getting in touch with similar stories who say they've never heard of anything like this before, they thought they were the only one. we will be following this case, looking at whether it paves the way for other people in this situation to maybe take some action. emma, thank you. and if you have a story you think we'd be interested in, do get in touch with us at victoria@bbc.co.uk. julian assange's father has told this programme his son

would face what is effectively a death sentence if he's sent to the united states to face trial. concerns have been raised about mr assange's health ahead of a controversial extradition hearing starting next week at woolwich crown court. the united states wants the founder of the wikileaks website to face 18 charges for attempted hacking and breaking the espionage act. while it's thought he cannot face the death penalty, the charges could — in theory — result in a 175 year prison sentence. in a few minutes we'll hear exclusively from his fatherjohn shipton. but first our reporterjim reed has the story so far. the ecuadorian embassy in knightsbridge asjulian assange is dragged outside by police. the 48—year—old had spent seven years living inside that one building. back in 2012, he claimed asylum there, after sweden said it wanted to question him about sexual assault allegations.

he denied any wrongdoing, and that case has now been dropped. after his arrest assange was taken to belmarsh prison and sentenced to 50 weeks for skipping bail. he was due to be released last september. now, though, the united states wants him sent there, to face serious charges of attempted hacking and publishing secret material. and the reasons for that go back a whole decade. in 2010, the website assange founded, wikilea ks, published this video of a us apache helicopter in iraq. the footage shows 12 people being killed, including two reuters journalists. the file was leaked by chelsea manning, a former us army officer. it was just one small part of a huge cache of documents and diplomatic cables she passed to wikileaks.

manning was later convicted on spying charges. she was released, but is back in prison for refusing to testify against assange. i will not co—operate with this or any other grand jury. the us authorities now want to prosecute the wikileaks founder on 18 separate charges. he's accused of trying to help manning access the pentagon computer network, and of violating the us espionage act by publishing secret material, including the full names of informants and sources. wikileaks said it only published the full raw data after two guardian journalists revealed a critical password in a book about the case. those claims have been dismissed by the guardian as nonsense. at a hearing, which starts next week, a judge must now decide ifjulian assange should be released, or face what could be a long prison sentence in the united states.

i sat down withjulian assange's fatherjohn shipton yesterday and asked him about his son's state of mind. the ceaseless anxiety that julian's been under for now, ten years, eh, it had a profoundly deleterious effect. erm, i can't speculate on to his state of mind, but i imagine that he would be really worried, because being sent to the united states is a death sentence. that may not happen, of course. it's down to a judge to decide. yes. let's talk about what the americans have charged your son with. first of all, conspiracy to hack into a us government computer. and then, 17 charges under the us espionage act, accusing him of receiving and unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources. can you defend all that?

oh, yes, very simply. you know, the espionage charges are political so that the extradition cannot go — in fact, the extradition cannot be served as political. the second one is computer hacking. this is a question of a failed attempt to break a password. this is insignificant. how is it political? i mean, he's charged with trying to help ms manning crack a password to a secret pentagon network, making him a co—conspirator in illegal hacking. that's the charge that you say is minor. and he dumped information on the internet, 250,000 diplomatic cables and almost 500,000 us army reports, including the names, the actual real names, without redacting them, of multiple sensitive sources, and the charges accuse him of putting individuals at a grave

and imminent risk of harm. well, with all due respect, that statement is untrue. which one? that, eh, without redacting. they redacted 10,000 names on the evening before the publication. 0n the cables they redacted constantly the names. the names of sources in dangerous locations, including the names of local afghans, iraqis, chinese and iranians, were in those diplomatic cables? yes. so he released those? no. yes. david lee did. no. wikileaks did, your son did. david lee published the password to the files. consequently, everybody had access to them. that was the guardian book, the guardian wikileaks book. they say, "it's nonsense to suggest the guardian's wikileaks book compromised security in any way. "0ur book about wikileaks contained a password, but no details of the location of the files.

and we were told it was a temporary password, which would expire and be deleted in a matter of hours. it was a meaningless piece of information to anyone except the person who created the database." well, they're admitting they did and excusing themselves, trying to blame somebody else. but they didn't publish 250,000 diplomatic cables and almost half a million us army reports? they did. they gave the password. you can't get at it without the password. if you look at wikileaks‘ publications prior to that, you will see analysis and you will see redaction. yeah, prior to that, yes. you are mixing up two different things with respect, mr shipton. yes. there was the publication, the media partners of wikileaks, the guardian, new york times, el pais, der spiegel and le monde. they all worked together previously publishing carefully selected and redacted documents. when the quarter of a million cables, unredacted, were published by wikileaks, all those previous media partners

condemned the decision of wikileaks to publish what they called the unredacted state department cables, which may put sources at risk. their statement went on, "our previous dealings with wikileaks were on the clear basis that we would only publish cables which had been subjected to a thorough joint editing and clearance process. we'll continue to defend our previous collaborative publishing endeavour, but we cannot defend the needless publication of the complete data. indeed, we are united in condemning it." yeah. oh well, you know, they transfer blame away from themselves. the person, the people who redacted the original publication wasjulian assange. so that statement is false. secondly, robert gates, in testimony before congress, he was secretary of state, said there has been no damage. is it embarrassing? yes. is it awkard? yes. according to other people, there has been damage.

i mean, reporters without borders, a press freedom group — "while it's not been demonstrated that lives have so far been put in danger by these revelations, the repercussions they could have for informants cannot be neglected." the committee to protectjournalists said an ethiopian journalist was forced to flee the country after being named in these cables. assistant attorney generaljohn demus said, "the department took seriously the role ofjournalists in our democracy, but that assange was no journalist. indeed no responsible act ofjournalism would purposefully publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential sources in war zones, exposing them to the gravest of dangers." but you're saying he didn't do any of that, it was other people? no, i'm saying to you, and i'll continue to say it, that the reason why the cables were released in their bulk, unredacted, was that david lee and luke harding published the password in their book, enabling anybody and everybody to access it. you mentioned at the beginning about the ceaseless anxiety of the last few years that your son

has been subjected to. that included the time when he was inside the ecuadorian embassy in london. why didn't he lift that ceaseless anxiety and simply walk out? julian fought two court cases in sweden to get them to advance the case with an interview in london, in the embassy, which was eventually done and the allegations drop. i do have a statement from the prosecutors, though, who released this in november last year, after they dropped their investigation into the rape allegation against your son. they said, "the reason for this decision is the evidence has weakened considerably due to the long period of time that's elapsed since the events in question. i would like to emphasise that the injured party has submitted a credible and reliable version of events." finally, i want to ask you, what is your instinct about how this extradition hearing will go?

well, i... it's a low level court, so i... my guess would be that the judge is really not in a position to make a decision other than extradite. you think your son will be extradited to the us? no, i think that that will be her decision and there will be an appeal to the high court. the former guardian journalist david leigh was mentioned in that interview. he told this programme: "it is a complete invention that i had anything to do with julian assange's own publication decisions: his cause is not helped by people making things up." some breaking news — a family courtjudge in london has heard this morning that borisjohnson and his estranged wife marina wheeler have reached a financial agreement following their separation two years ago. a minister in borisjohnson's goverment has said that the vetting process for hiring advisors needs to be looked at. business minister kwasi kwarteng spoke out after the resignation of andrew sabisky as a downing st advisor, whose past controversial comments about race,

women and pregnancy came to light after he was appointed. he said he's stepping down because he's become "a distraction" — and insists he's been quoted "selectively". so what's he said? in a 2014 blog post he commented, "one way to get around the problems of unplanned pregnancies creating a permanent underclass would be to legally enforce universal uptake of long—term contraception at the onset of puberty." in a comment on another blog post on a different website in 2014, he suggested black americans had a lower average iq than white americans, writing... and in a twitter post from 2019 he said... mr sabisky had been appointed after the prime minister's chief

advisor dominic cummings called for "misfits and weirdos" to apply forjobs in downing street. as he left home this morning, mr cummings had this to say. reporter: have you got any more weirdos? read philip tetlock, superforecasters. instead of political pundits who don't know what they're talking about. reporter: do you regret his appointment? reporter: does number ten condemn his views? some more comments from andrew sabisky have come to light. he was effectively a sort of agony uncle to posters on one website sex forum giving out advice on various things, i know it's half term, i'm going to give you a warning, we've got kids around, you may not want them to hear this next bit. this is some advice he gave regarding what good christian women should do. it ought to be obvious that her wifely duty

ought to consist notjust of letting you masturbate into her vagina but actively playing her part in building a fantastic sex life with you, yes that might require pushing through some initial mental discomfort but it is simply selfish and unchristian of her not to make the effort. caroline nokes is a conservative mp who's a former immigration minister and now the chair elect of the women and equalities select committee. she's in our southampton studio. your reaction to what is written and posted in the past and the fact that he has been sacked or resigned? i'm relieved he's gone. i would call into question what sort of vetting process allowed this individual through. but i really feel that yesterday we needed to have a much quicker, either explanation potentially or apology. he could have at the very least distanced himself from comments he made when he was much younger. it took the

business minister on the radio this morning to call it out and say, some of his comments were racist and it's totally u na cce pta ble, you of his comments were racist and it's totally unacceptable, you agree? absolutely, i think his comments we re absolutely, i think his comments were racist, deeply unpleasant towards women and disabled people. and that was why yesterday, i had to call out the fact that number ten are not distancing themselves from his comments. why do you think they didn't condemn what he said and wrote about in the past?|j didn't condemn what he said and wrote about in the past? i simply don't know why they didn't and i don't know why they didn't and i don't know why he didn't. he could have come out and apologised himself andi have come out and apologised himself and i guess he could have legitimately used the excuse of youth although he wasn't that young and his comments about women athletes were only made last year. so not that young, then? andrew sabisky is said to describe himself asa sabisky is said to describe himself as a super sabisky is said to describe himself as a super forecaster, what is that? i wish i knew what that is, i gather he has some great ability for being

able to predict what's going to happen in the future, shame he did not deploy those skills back in 2014 when he was making some very inappropriate comments online. so being a super forecaster, he could have predicted his own future, in other words, there would be a huge controversy when he got a top job at number ten? at the very least he might have thought perhaps a few months ago he might like to clean up his online profile and get rid of what he could but he didn't do that. he didn't apologise for it, he hasn't distanced himself from the comments and i think this is a very sad chapter at the time and i'm pleased it's over. caroline, thank you for coming on the programme. calling for an update on the vetting process , calling for an update on the vetting process, and who gets a job at number ten is a special adviser. thank you for your many messages today. about waiting times for transgender patients, today. about waiting times for tra nsgender patients, this today. about waiting times for transgender patients, this e—mail

comments as i waited three and a half years to get a screening appointment, then a further nine months until i met my lead professional, then one more year before getting prescribed hormones. two years before getting prescribed hormones. two yea rs in before getting prescribed hormones. two years in my mental health is better and i'm moving forward but i still have a few more years before i am finally complete. thank you so much, so many of those and we really appreciate you getting in touch today. bbc newsroom live is coming up next. thank you for your company today. have a good day. good morning. the impact of storm dennis is not over yet, some more flood warnings issued this morning from the environment agency now we have ten severe flood warnings across england and wales, all of the water still working its way down the

river systems, more info coming from the sky today, band are quite heavy rain moving south eastwards across england and wales, the risk of some help, ponder mixed in, some sunny spells other side, scattered showers, scattered showers for scotland, northern ireland, wintry over higher ground, quite blustery conditions this afternoon and temperature is about 7—11d. the ring clearing from the south—east, clear skies, wintry showers in northern areas, perhaps risk of ice into tomorrow morning as temperatures fall down to 1—4d. bright start on wednesday, he quickly this next weather system moves in, sticking around into thursday, the risk of more flooding and by friday, into the weekend, more weather systems are piling in from the atlantic. staying very unsettled, well worth staying tuned to the forecast. goodbye for now.

you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am and these are the main stories this morning. more than 550 people on the diamond princess cruise ship have now tested positive for coronavirus — a british couple say they have it — their son is worried about them in the last two days, i've seen cracks in the armour. they are coming down. my mum breaks into tears frequently when we call her. my dad's short tempered. the uk foreign office say they're working to fly the british citizens on board the cruise ship home. hsbc announce plans to cut around 35,000 jobs, after profits dropped by a third last year. more than 200 flood warnings are in place across england,

wales and scotland, including nine severe — or "danger