a lot of those showers will 20. a lot of those showers will begin to fade away this evening, we will find clearer skies over except in the south, because we have thickening cloud and rain coming in from the atlantic, southern parts of england and the far south wales. it will be milder. further north with the clear skies and whiter winds, temperatures will be seven or eight. we have the far south of wales, southern england, heavy bursts of rain in the south—west but it becomes lighter and more patchy through the afternoon. away from here, a good amount of sunshine, just patchy cloud, may if you like to showers in the north—west of scotland, most places will be dry and temperatures a bit lower than today in the midlands and eastern england. hello. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley and these are the headlines: large parts of britain's rail

network grind to a halt as 50 thousand workers stage a walk—out in the biggest rail strike so far. no way out — the ukrainian military says it has encircled russian forces in the strategic eastern town of lyman in the donetsk region, a day after russia annexed the area. millions of people in the uk will pay more for gas and electricity from today as the new energy price cap comes into force. the uk's biggest controlled explosion for 75 years as redcar steelworks is demolished. now on bbc news, molly russell: a father's journey. a warning some viewers may find details in this programme disturbing.

molly is always going to be our molly, we're always going to miss her. and her story is known by more people. it doesn't stop her being our molly. a girl who made the news for the worst of reasons. reporter: the government tells - social media companies to take more responsibility for harmful online content in a bid to protect vulnerable young people from self—harm and suicide. 14—year—old molly russell took her own life, her father says social media played a key part

in her death and his daughter... i think we were all amazed by the reaction to molly's story. reporter: the government is urging | social media companies to take more j responsibility for harmful online content. her photo was in the papers, on the front pages. you would be going about your life in normal way and there she was again. reporter: two years ago, | 14-year-old molly russell... reporter: molly russell took her life... _ not a day goes past when we don't miss her in some way. _ the important thing is that... the story about how we can do - something positive to make the world a safer place for young | and vulnerable people, that conversation continues. when ian russell first decided to speak about his daughter's death

he had no idea that molly would become a household name. molly was the youngest of three sisters. at the time she seemed to be a very ordinary teenager. she handed her homework in that night. she packed her bags and was preparing to go to school the next day. and then when we woke up the next morning, she was dead. since her death, we have been able to look back and just scratch the surface at some of the social media accounts that she had been following. i remember this one, that picture. "this world is so cruel, i don't want to see it any more." there were accounts from people who were depressed or self harming. some of that content seem

to be quite positive. perhaps groups of people trying to help each other out, but some of that content is a shocking in that it encourages self—harm. it links self—harm to suicide, and i have no doubt that instagram helped kill my daughter. it's more than three years since we did that first interview with ian russell here in west london, but it still has real impact today. that phrase, "instagram helped kill my daughter," touched a nerve for charities, politicians and, of course, parents. these are companies that count their profits in the billions, and they turn around and say to us that they can't protect our children. the headlines kept coming, and molly's death for change. within days, there were questions being asked in parliament,

and bosses from facebook and instagram were summoned to talk to government ministers and be grilled by the media. there is a picture of some slit wrists — that is instagram. there is a picture full of blood — from instagram. those are all against your policies but they are all available on instagram. we have to make sure that we look at these and ensure those are taken down. we can legislate if we need to. it would be far better to do it in concert with social media companies, but if we think they need to do things that they are refusing to do than we can and we must legislate. and nick clegg, once deputy prime minister, now working for facebook. why are there thousands of images glorifying self—harm on instagram? well, there shouldn't be and its... it's as distressing to me as to anyone to have heard about the awful, tragic cases

of teenagers taking their lives in the way that has come to light in recent days. slit wrists. smeared blood. you have children, would you let them hear that? no, of course not. i think we were all amazed by the reaction to molly's story. less than three and a half hours before there was a knock on our front door and there was a journalist after the story broke on the six o'clock news. didn't expect there to be a reaction that quickly. the next day, her photo was on the front pages. didn't expect it to be that big a story. and, to me, that isjust a sign

of the number of people that it touched, the number of families that were touched, probably because every family with teenaged children who had access to the internet were worried. reporter: molly russell was “ust 14 years old when she took a lie. _ —— took her life. and so without ever planning it, ian russell became widely known, sharing his own experience to try and make the internet a safer place. it is devastating. applause. in parliament, and people enactment up to hear him speak. imagine, if you can, talking publicly about a moment so personal. i rememberjanet�*s scream. i remember pushing past her as she came out of molly's bedroom. i remember my disbelief when i saw my lifeless, youngest daughter. that moment my whole life stopped and a new,

emptier life started. that new life became all consuming. he set up a charity, the molly rose foundation and has been campaigning to strengthen the government's online safety bill. my youngest daughter died on 21 november 2017. the corporate culture at these platforms needs to change. speeches and events, meetings and conferences, even alongside the prince of wales. the world i know now is so different from the world i thought i knew before molly's death. i thought i understood enough about mental ill—health, the dangers online. the fact that there is a huge amount of easily accessible dangerous content online that would drive somebody closer to suicide was a horrible shock. if you find one hashtag, other hashtags will be suggested.

so as soon as you are in the club, as soon as you start to find the sort of material, the sad, depression encouraging, suicide encouraging memes will be landing in your inbox, on your accounts, daily, and i can't think of how many of these such images such images molly would have been exposed to. its... it's just shocking. i expect it will be quite an emotional thing for me to be in the heart of silicon valley given what has happened optimally. ——to our family. 2019, and a fact—finding visit to the us.

also an opportunity to challenge the social media companies. i'm interested to find out what attitude is in the state. i believe that although things have changed i don't think they have changed quickly and enough and i don't think the companies have taken seriously enough. first, florida, to meet an american doctor campaigning on the same issues. i personally have had as young as a seven—year—old who has had a full on attempt of suicide. so we're going to see young adult male who is here for a suicide attempt. when did you start harming yourself? about the age of about 12. this one probably required statutes but i didn't get it stitched _ at the time. the numbers are rising rapidly, the age is decreasing significantly. do you think this is connected with social media? absolutely, absolutely connected with social media.

we can go right on in here. that is pretty graphic. that is graphic. it doesn't get much more graphic than that. and itjust continues on and on. i don't know if there is one picture here that isn't showing blood oi’ a scar of some sort. like a grooming process that is happening on these platforms, especially on instagram because, you know, you follow one hashtag to another hashtag to another hashtag, and it is grooming that person to self—harm more. it could be one post that makes that child say, "she did it, i can do it too." i think i am probably disappointed that there is so much material still just so easily found. i was rather hoping that the steps taken would have at least made it harder to find that stop. i knew it hadn't all gone,

but it is just so much of it there. in new york, ian is due to be interviewed by american television, but first, something he wants to see. it is bit of a pilgrimage because molly could sink away through all of hamilton, and we'd got tickets to see it in london. ——sing. she was looking forward to going to see it as a family. the january after her death, we all went along, missing one of us. that's available online. it shouldn't be. if you took that content, printed it out, put it on a billboard by a town, that town would be incensed that that stuff was there. it's not right. inaudible hug.

hey. san francisco, silicon valley. ian cannot meet instagram's bosses because of legal issues around molly's inquest, so we speak to them on his behalf. molly's death and, more specifically, the work that her parents have done in the wake of that tragedy — which i honestly can't begin to imagine what they have gone through — i have children of my own — but the work they have done has raised an immense amount

of awareness and an important issue for me personally, for me instagram more broadly, but also for the industry. and it has translated into a lot of concrete changes, changes in policies, changes to what shows up where on instagram, more investment in finding people who might be at risk, and those effects are real and they're important. so, her legacy may be to make social media a safer place? i — iwould — i would deeply hope so. absolutely sounds sincere. i would deeply hope so. just hope he delivers. i would deeply hope so. because every week that that content is still there — and in the uk there are four more school—aged children who are dying by suicide, for example — it's — there is a pressure of time. there's a pressure of time. and the price is the price of children's lives.

ian meets other bereaved parents. he wants to raise awareness about child suicide. it's just such a waste. it's just so sad. so alysia valoras is another parent bereaved by suicide. # because you're mine. # i walk the line #. her daughter alexandra ended her life completely unexpectedly. we thought we had a daughter- who was happy, we thought she was ok and inside, she was — she was not.

that's. .. you could be describing molly. so, these were — these i were alexandra's journals. we found these on the bridge. that's just like a thing we found in molly's books — these big, scrawly, angry words. yeah, yeah. "i can't do this," yeah. it just wasn't — it - wasn't the girl we knew. um, yeah, this is kind of hard. yeah. we haven't got as many notes as there are in alexandra's journals but she left us some that we found after her death, and she says, "there's no hope for me". and then she says, "i'll see you in a while. "love you all so much. "have a happy life. "stay strong."

so... so, those were — those were — - those were alexandra's words, too. yeah. same thing. exhales. um, and i don't know, like, what happens. i i don't know. how can you — how can you not think that your life is worthwhile? - there's a lot of other kids out there that are just - like her and don't say anything, you know, because it's not ok. to talk about, you know? so, i'm glad it's starting to get talked about. - i think i'm ok but very pleased to meet you. if you had had a moment to say anything, or a message potentially for him, what would you think that would be at the moment? for mr russell? for mr russell, yeah. to start, i don't want to pretend that i could begin to understand

what he's been through. but i have a lot of respect that — for the fact that he has turned an incredibly tragic experience into a force for change, into a force for good. and for that, i'm grateful. it's an important day in molly's inquest process. we're off to see the legal team who have been poring through the contents of molly's iphone and ipod touch, and there are tens of thousands of pages worth of data that needed

to be collated before we could have any idea of what molly was really doing online before her death. hello. it's ian russell to seejess and oliver and mary. hello. thanks. it contains some material that i'm sure's going to be very upsetting to — to read, sojust take as long as you need... thank you. ..and let us know when you are ready. there was just no let—up for molly. this is relentless. perhaps because i'm molly's father but it's just — you just read it and itjust saps you of your life energy. it's... exhales.

just... it's horrible. and i can see how if you're exposed to this every day, it would destroy you. beeping. good morning. it's seven o'clock on tuesday the 20th of september. the bbc news is read this morning by caroline nicholas. the inquest into the death of a 14—year—old girl- who took her own life five years ago after being exposed to harmful- content online will begin later today. | molly russell viewed large numbers of posts about depression, - suicide and self— harm. her father has said he hopes the hearing in north londonl will lead to changes around how social media companies - keep people safe. not looking forward to it at all, that glimpse into someone we still love so dearly, into the anguish she was feeling.

this was the day we heard about the molly behind the headlines, beyond the pictures on the front pages of the newspapers. he described her life as "important" and "influential" and he told the court she was destined to do good. but i think and i hope that we will learn lessons and that it will help produce the change that's needed to keep people safe, to keep people alive. an executive from pinterest admitted to the court that he wouldn't want his own children to see the kind of content molly had viewed. and the head of health and well being for meta said she was sorry that molly had seen content that violated instagram's policies. and then, after two weeks,

the coroner concluded. ..the algorithms used by social media companies... ..girls like molly who said are in the eye of the storm... she become overwhelmed by the kind of material that she was seeing and ended up by taking her own life and in this historic decision today, this historic conclusion, a coroner has said that social media was more than minimally the cause of her death. it was everything ian had wanted to hear, and more. in the last week, we've heard much about one tragic story — molly's story. sadly, there are too many others similarly affected right now. i hope that this will be an important step in bringing about much—needed change. thank you.

i hope that the world will be safer, the digital world particularly, will be a safer place to inhabit. and the final thing i want to say is thank you, molly, for being my daughter. thank you. thank you, everyone, and thank you for all of your coverage. so, after all he has gone through, ian's message for those who are struggling. all i would say is if — if you're in a place — a horrible, low place where you actually to end your life, please reach out to those people that you love. because they would so much rather you did. so, what will molly's legacy be? a safer internet for

young people, perhaps. ian russell certainly hopes so. and as for him, he'll carry on campaigning in his daughter's name. she left some notes, which i think we're lucky to have notes after her death because she tried to explain how she felt. "i'm the problem in everyone's life. "i love you all. "stay strong. "i'm proud of you." bless you, molly. i think every member of molly's family spends time every day wishing they'd done something different.

and part of learning to process the grief that comes with a death by suicide is also learning to deal with that guilt. many nice people say "you can't blame yourself". i think that's — that's an impossibility. i think it'sjust a human reaction. and some days, it's worse than others, but i don't think there will be a day in the rest of my life where i won't blame myself.

if, after watching this film, you are feeling distress or despair, details of help and support are available on the bbc action line. good afternoon, for much of the country it's a much better

we've got brisk westerly winds today. the bulk of the showers are across western areas.— across western areas. particularly in scotland- _ across western areas. particularly in scotland. plenty _ across western areas. particularly in scotland. plenty of _ across western areas. particularly in scotland. plenty of sunshine i in scotland. plenty of sunshine further east, we have seen the cloud increase, there is a chance of a shower but generally it's dry. quite warm toward eastern areas, temperature 19 or 20 degrees across eastern areas of england. during this evening and overnight the showers to become much fewer, skies will clear the many but towards the south we have the atlantic, that will bring some rain eastwards across southern england and just brushing southern parts of wales. further north, clearer skies and light winds. temperatures will drop away to 7 or 8 degrees. this is what we have the rain tomorrow, always going to be heavier in the south, that read more extensive in the morning, should become lighter and more patchy in some places drying up in the afternoon. further north, plenty of sunshine, bitter patchy cloud, the winds will be lighter, a few showers in the north—west, few at lighter showers temperatures around 16 to 18 celsius.

this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley and these are the latest headlines... large parts of britain's rail network grind to a halt as 50,000 workers stage a walk—out in the biggest rail strike so far. the action is getting stronger, and the public are behind us, so we are committed to it. we want a resolution. if the government can change their attitude, we can get a resolution very quickly. what we require is a change to discuss — what we require is a change to discuss meaningful reform. we want to give _ discuss meaningful reform. we want to give our— discuss meaningful reform. we want to give our staff a pay increase, but it _ to give our staff a pay increase, but it has — to give our staff a pay increase, but it has to be self funding from within_ but it has to be self funding from within the — but it has to be self funding from within the industry because we can't afford _ within the industry because we can't afford to— within the industry because we can't afford to keep taking taxpayers' money — millions of people will pay more for gas and electricity from today as the new energy price cap comes into force. no way out, the ukrainian military says it has encircled russian forces in the strategic eastern town

of lyman in the donetsk region, a day after russia annexed the area.