live from london. this is bbc news. the manhunt widens for daniel khalife, the former soldier, now terror suspect, who escaped from a londonjail. the united states announces it'll arm ukraine with depleted uranium tank shells. a bbc news investigation finds dozens of young autistic people died after serious failings in their care, despite repeated warnings from coroners. they were just so desperate, ijust don't understand why there is such a lack of understanding of autism. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out

the truth behind them. let's start with a manhunt in the uk after a dramatic prison break yesterday. the government has ordered an independent review after a terror suspect, daniel khalife, escaped from wandsworth prison by clinging to the underside of a food delivery van leaving the jail. the 21—year—old was awaiting trial, accused of leaving fake bombs at a military base while serving in the army. ports and airports are now on high alert. graham satchell reports. it looked like business as usual at wandsworth today — prison vans coming and going, but the jail is now at the centre of a growing storm, with serious questions about how a terror suspect managed to escape. daniel khalife was working in the kitchen. he broke out by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery van. in the house of commons, the justice secretary announced a series of reviews to answer some basic questions. who was on duty that morning?

in what roles? ranging from the kitchen to the prison gate, what protocols were in place? were they followed 7 there are more questions. why was a terror suspect being held at a category b prison? what kind of checks were there on the vehicles coming in and out? you'd expect a mirror to be run under the van on its way out in the same way as there is a dome above where you can look down to see if anyone�*s on top of the van. now, why did that fail? daniel khalife is a former soldier. he joined the army in 2019. three years later, he became the subject of a counter—terrorism investigation. he's accused of planting fake bombs at the barracks in stafford where he was based and was arrested injanuary. he's been charged with preparing an act of terrorism and collecting information useful to a hostile state, now understood to be iran. yesterday's escape has drawn attention to wider problems in the prison system — overcrowding, understaffing.

the prison officers' association has blamed the government for what it calls the "decimation of the service". i was made aware that there were significant staff shortages, so i looked about investigating this and actually discovered that in december last year, only seven members of staff turned up for a night shift to look after 1,500 inmates. daniel khalife has been on the run for more than 2a hours. police are urging anyone who sees him to call 999. graham satchell, bbc news. charlie taylor is the chief inspector of prisons. he told bbc world at 0ne�*s sarah montague he was concerned by the escape. this is very concerning, because wandsworth had a previous escape in 2019 as well, and obviously any prisoner getting out ofjail is an extremely rare event, particularly a prisoner who is accused of a terrorist offence makes it all the worse. but to some extent, our concerns about wandsworth over a number

of years make it a jail that is more likely for this sort of thing to happen, particularly the lack of staffing which has dogged the prison. i think when we last inspected at the end of 2021, they were 30% short of staff, staff weren't available for coming into work for whatever reason. live now to outside wandsworth prison, joe inwood is there for us. i suppose the two big questions are how he escaped and where he is now, is there any update on either? hat is there any update on either? not any update — is there any update on either? iirrt any update from any formal sources. as you can see, the present behind me is a huge and imposing building, but it is a category b and not category a prison, not the most secure or serious form of present. what we understand happened is that he was working in the kitchens. as graham said in the report, there are questions about why someone who is on remand for terror offences had a

job in the kitchens, which are traditionally to be considered quite a prestigious position for a prisoner. someone who has generally demonstrated good behaviour. he was on remand and for serious offences, so how had he landed a job doing that? what it seems happen is that the company who was delivering the food, he somehow managed to attach himself to the underside of the van using some strapping, which was discovered subsequently. we have been told that the that that van took will be a focus of the investigation, but in terms of where he is, we have no proper update. in terms of what we know from the police, from ports, from airports, what is actually being done? because there hasn't been much of an update in the last 2a hours. there hasn't been much of an update in the last 24 hours.— in the last 24 hours. there is obviously — in the last 24 hours. there is obviously a _ in the last 24 hours. there is obviously a huge _ in the last 24 hours. there is obviously a huge police - in the last 24 hours. there is| obviously a huge police effort in the last 24 hours. there is i obviously a huge police effort to find him, and extra checks put on at the ports and airports. we have seen those huge queues building up at dover as a consequence, but in terms of how they are trying to catch on, thatis of how they are trying to catch on, that is the sort of thing which the police simply wouldn't tell us.

0bviously they say they are making all efforts, they say they are doing their very best, but in terms of the operational procedure that is going on, that is the kind of thing that they keep under wraps. i am sure they keep under wraps. i am sure they are briefing journalists, but generally off the record. we are not getting any public update, because as they say, all of their efforts are focused on finding this man. joe are focused on finding this man. joe inwood there at wandsworth prison, thank you very much. officials in ukraine say a number of russian drones have attacked the danube river port of izmail for the fourth time in five days. the regional governor said the assault lasted for three hours and saw civil and port infrastructure facilities, an elevator and an administrative building damaged. one person sustained minor injuries. meanwhile, russia says it downed several ukrainian drones during attempted attacks on the capital moscow and the rostov and bryansk regions in the early hours of thursday. the latest overnight attacks come as the us secretary of state, antony blinken, continues a two—day

visit to kyiv, during which he announced a further package of aid for ukraine worth more than a billion dollars. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, is in kyiv and gave us an update on the drone attacks. yeah, this is very much a pattern, as you just indicated, matthew. it's been going on for more than a month now and it seems to be intensifying so that we've had, for the last several nights, attacks on those port facilities along the danube river. now, the riverforms the border between ukraine and romania, and since russia pulled out of the un—brokered black sea grain initiative, which was brokered a year ago, since they pulled out of that injuly, ukraine has been trying to compensate by getting grain out along the danube, and then boats that hug the romanian coast down to the port of constanza, and then the ships can move from there. russia has been trying to stop this, and that is why we have seen these repeated drone attacks, wave upon wave of drone

attacks at night. they're, ithink, aware that the ukrainian air defences in that region are not nearly as sophisticated as they are here in the capital in kyiv. the ukrainians do manage to shoot quite a few of those drones down, but every night we hear about damage, damage to storage facilities, damage to port infrastructure, and it is definitely having an impact and it is something that is worrying the ukrainians a great deal, because exporting their grain is absolutely vital. that was paul adams in kyiv. the messages which came to light after investigation carried out by the bbc were about the duchess of sussex and the prime minister rishi sunak. peter booth, anthony nelson, alan hall, trevor newton and robert lewis admitted sharing the messages

between 2020 and 2022. all of the men had already retired from the police by then. sima kotecha from newsnight broke this story originally and told me a little earlier what her investigation had found. last 0ctober, earlier what her investigation had found. last october, a series of whatsapp messages were leaked to me, they revealed some of the most vile messages i've ever seen in my life. they were exchanged on what's up, they were racist and they poked fun at the duchess of sussex, people of south asian heritage, as black children. like i said, they were horrific messages. today, five of the men that were charged have pleaded guilty to sending grossly offensive messages at westminster magistrates�* court this afternoon. so it is another indication, you might argue, that the met is trying to clamp down on racist behaviour. we have heard over the last year or so about the problem is that the force has. we have that very

revealing report where the force was called institutionally racist, along with some officers i�*ve been speaking to have been telling me that for over a year, that there are some deep rooted issues there are. so perhaps a validation that those issues do exist and have existed and that the met is trying to get those people, you know, the appropriate legal action taken against them. find legal action taken against them. and tell me legal action taken against them. fific tell me about what legal action taken against them. fific tell me about what happened in court. what is the potential sanction here we are talking about? so the number of counts facing each individual vary, you have some people facing eight counts of sending grossly offensive messages, then you have others facing two counts. so the severity of what they face varies. we don�*t know what they might get, there may be a custodial sentence for those with more accounts, community service for others. to be honest, we are not clear at the moment what sentencing they will get, but we know they will

be sentenced at a later date. so we wait eagerly to find out what happens next.— wait eagerly to find out what happens next. wait eagerly to find out what ha ens next. �* i. ., . ., happens next. and you touched on it, but it underlines, _ happens next. and you touched on it, but it underlines, doesn't _ happens next. and you touched on it, but it underlines, doesn't it, - happens next. and you touched on it, but it underlines, doesn't it, the - but it underlines, doesn�*t it, the problem of racism within the police force, certainly the metropolitan police force? and the met commissioner knows, he has got a problem, the depth of the problem and the need to stamp it out. absolutely, and we have heard that from day one, haven�*t we, from him? he has put forward that he is going to clamp down on this behaviour, that he will not stand for it, that he will take action against those police officers who convey this sort of attitude. it is important to say that these men were not serving at the time, they were former metropolitan police officers. they once served in the diplomatic protection group, that is the unit in charge of protecting embassies in the palace of westminster and government ministers. as i said, they had required! retired from the force, and in some way back in 2001,

and others had retired as close as 2015. and one of the men actually worked for the home office prior to being suspended and then dismissed last year after we exposed those messages on newsnight in october. so obviously he no longer works for the home office. mr rob lewis, he pleaded guilty to all eight counts of sending grossly offensive messages this afternoon. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. police say they�*re launching an investigation into maternity failures at nottingham university hospitals nhs trust. the care provided by the trust is already the subject of the biggest maternity inquiry in the history of the health service, with at least 1,700 families involved after dozens of babies died or were left with serious injuries. a scheme that provided free heating

on prescription to people with underlying health conditions has found it reduced the need to see a gp. sheffield hallam university said it was too soon to say if a wider scheme would save the nhs money. the government said it would "keep options under review". a review of veterinary services in the uk has been launched over concerns that pet owners are facing "eye—watering" bills. the competition and markets authority said vet fees were rising faster than other goods and services during the cost of living crisis and people may not be getting value for money. you�*re live with bbc news. a bbc investigation has found that more than 50 young people with autism have died after serious failings in their care, despite repeated warnings from coroners that society needs to better understand the condition. autism is a lifelong developmental disability, which affects how people communicate

and interact with the world, and there are around 700,000 autistic children and adults in the uk. ruth clegg has this report. i�*m saffron. and i have, um, a lot of problems, but that�*s not all i�*m about. i love rainbows, i love the colour yellow, and i really want to help people. this is saffie. we�*ve been chatting for over six months now. we chat via video call, video message, like the one that you�*ve seen here. she�*s autistic, she�*s bold, and she�*s ambitious. but she�*s also been in and out of mental health units for the past nine years. i mean, hospital, like, really sucks. i�*ve been sectioned. there�*s been a lot of stress, and, um, it�*s hard, but i�*m going to get through this and things are going to get better, or, i don�*t know, that�*s really it. saffie took thisjust a few months ago. she was at a low ebb and her weight was dangerously low. she was being treated in a hospital on a general ward,

because there were no specialist beds available. saffie�*s got an eating disorder linked to her autism, and she says she�*s never really got the help she so desperately needs. they didn�*t tackle the root of my disorder, which was not body image concern. for me, it was all bound up in sensory issues and rituals and rules, and keeping things the same. i wasn�*t allowed headphones at the table to cut out noise, being limited to three dislikes, despite all my sensory issues. i don�*t want to sound as if i�*m complaining, but i�*m very sensitive to things. every sense is very important to me. everything is amplified for me. during her latest admission, an independent panel reviewed saffie�*s care. they said staff did not fully understand her autism. every time saffie is admitted into hospital, her mum fears the worst. on each occasion she came out, partly weight—restored,

however damaged, traumatised, and her mental state got worse each time. 200 miles away, i meet another mum who knows that fear only too well. here's zoe's bedroom. we've got all the gymnastics pictures and the _ cheerleading pictures. jean has kept zoe�*s bedroom exactly the same since she died three years ago. zoe was just an amazing, - articulate person, and she really wanted to help people. but she just had so much to give this world. - zoe had been misdiagnosed as having a personality disorder. her mental health, which was already pretty fragile, began to go downhill. nobody listened to zoe - and they wouldn't listen to me. and zoe was just so desperate. ijust don't understand why there is such a lack- of understanding of autism. zoe just said, "i'm too tired. i can't fight any more. - "i can't fight. "the only way i can see to get rid

of this diagnosis is to die." - zoe took her own life injune 2020. after her inquest, the coroner warned that a lack of understanding autism contributed to her death. he called for immediate action on a local and national level. and we have discovered that zoe is one of many. our investigation found that dozens of young autistic people have died following serious failings in their care, despite the repeated warnings from coroners. this is happening on a huge scale, and what we see is a story of systemic failure. so, from the moment that an autistic person is born, they're late to get diagnosed, and then there's no actual plan for providing that right support from day one, which means that they're more likely to go on to experience mental health issues, the increased likelihood of ending up in places like inpatient care, and, tragically, experiencing health problems and potentially dying earlier than you would see in the general population.

the government says autism training is being rolled out and it�*s spending over £4 million improving services. despite experiencing those very failings, saffie is home and is determined to get better. i don�*t know who i would be without units, and because of all these experiences, i want to help other people. i want to get the world understanding what it�*s like being autistic. she�*s now training to be a mental health nurse and says she is determined to protect other young people from life in a system that struggles to understand autism. ruth clegg, bbc news. that is a really powerful investigation. do stay with us. and coming up later this hour, we�*ll speak to two mothers, both with autistic sons who have recently died. they�*ll speak about the challenges they have experienced getting care.

that interview coming up in about 20 minutes here on verified live. the head of one of the biggest male talent agencies injapan has resigned over allegations of sexual abuse by its late founder. julie fujishima said she now wanted to help and care for all the victims ofjohnny kitagawa, who died four years ago. he is accused of abusing a large number of young men while running his �*johnny and associates�* organisation over more than six decades before his death. journalist mobeen azhar worked on the bbc documentary, predator: the secret scandal ofj—pop, examining that legacy and asked him about today�*s developments. it�*s absolutely not a surprise to me, having spent so much time following the story and speaking to many of the survivors of abuse. i would certainly welcome this decision and i would call it progress. it is certainly a step

in the right direction. at the same time, there remains countless unanswered questions not only about the conduct ofjohnny kitagawa, who is of course now dead, but about the culture atjohnny and associates, and about the leadership there as well. as you mentioned, julie fujishima has stepped down, but a new head of the company has been announced, and there are already question marks about his qualifications and whether or not he will be able to usher in an actual culture shift in the company. i think for a lot of the survivors, there are many unanswered questions. yes, and a lot of what you are saying is looking forward, but if you look back, it went on for decades and involves huge numbers of people, and your investigation, more victims emerged after that, didn�*t they? completely. i would say the whole team, whilst we were making this, reached out to dozens of individuals, and there were four individuals in particular who were brave enough to come forward and speak on camera as part of this documentary.

since the film went out, i have been contacted and the team have been contacted as well by other survivors ofjohnny kitagawa�*s abuse. many of these people have not even spoken to their families about what happened. and if you look at the decades—long career, six decades, actually, thatjohnny kitagawa was at the top of the entertainment industry injapan, it was a very long career. there are many possible victims who have not come forward, who have not spoken to their families or anyone about this. the scale of this is quite unimaginable, actually. some of the abuse happened while boys were staying at kitagawa�*s home. i spoke to a victim for the bbc�*s this world programme. he shared his story for the first time. translation: johnny told me, "go and have a bath." - johnny filled up the bath.

i thought, "isn't he kind?" but then he reached for my trousers. i said, "i will take them off myself," but he replied with silence. and that terrified me. later, several boys told me, "you have to put up with it or you won't succeed." really disturbing testimony there from survivors of abuse. of course, today there has been this apology and actually, it�*s a really significant step because it�*s the first time really thatjulie fujishima has acknowledged that there was any real significant misconduct. in terms of survivors who are out there at the moment, and i have had so many messages today from colleagues, from peers and people who i know injapan on the ground, they are still really unsure what this means in terms of the company itself. and then the broader question of why this story was an open secret for so long.

so much of the japanese press just didn�*t report on it, and i think that is still a real issue under real problem. just a final thought, becausejohnny kitagawa himself was never convicted whilst he was alive. he actually sued people for defamation, didn�*t he? and in terms of fujishima, she is saying that she will help this independent investigation now and has said that she knew nothing about what was going on. what are people making of both those elements? i think there is a huge amount of cynicism. it is worth pointing out that at every single stage of this unfolding story, the conduct ofjulie fujishima and the company more broadly has been reactive. it hasn�*t been proactive. so, what we see today, i think unquestionably is a response to this documentary and it�*s a response to the fact that even the un recently said they were launching an investigation into workplace exploitation in the entertainment industry injapan. so there has been a series of unfolding events and that is why we are seeing what we�*re seeing today.

for those reasons, i think many people are really cynical as to how this will play out in the coming weeks, and years. post—brexit trading rows meant that brexit scientists —— british scientists were missing out from the fund. the head of the uk space agency spoke to me about the significance of this move. i�*m significance of this move. i'm delighted _ significance of this move. i'm delighted we _ significance of this move. i“n delighted we have joined horizon and delighted we havejoined horizon and that we have rejoined the copernicus programme, that is the programme for earth observation from space. i�*m delighted because it means that for uk scientists, for uk industry, companies up and down the country and for all of us who have a vested interest in understanding better what is really happening, the

climate emergency and disaster is around the world, being able to act quickly. being part of this gold standard programme of copernicus, and it is the best programme in the world, means we come at the forefront again of the work that brings the benefits of space back down here to life on earth. tell me more about the benefits of being involved in this wider umbrella body then. so, most globally—leading science is done internationally. taking copernicus as an example, but it is not the only one that the uk is involved with, we are talking about seven sets of satellites flying overhead every day. they are taking images we see on our screens of floods, the canopy of forests, really understanding what is happening in our climate. so if we had not rejoined, we would not have been in a position

to bid for the contracts that are coming up for the next generation. i�*m back with more than all of our stories here in a moment. hello. 0ur september heatwave is not loosening its grip just yet. in fact, this is turning into quite an exceptional run of hot days for the time of year. the last few days have brought temperatures above 30 celsius. today and the next couple of days also bringing temperatures above 30. in fact, it�*s going to be the longest run of september days above 30 degrees on record. but there are some exceptions. this was the scene in fife earlier on with some mist and murk and low cloud. a lot of that is clearing, but some will continue to linger close to the eastern coast of scotland. a few showers moving across parts of southern and western scotland and northern ireland — the odd hefty one, but in the hottest places today, well, 28 in the north—west highlands, 31 or 32 across parts of south—east england. and then through this evening and tonight,

we will continue to see a few showers marching across parts of scotland, more of that mist and murk and low cloud for some eastern coasts. another very, very mild — indeed warm night for some of us. so, tomorrow morning, if you�*re starting your day across eastern and central parts of scotland, expect some areas of fog, some mist, some low cloud. the same goes for eastern england. some of that rolling quite a long way inland for the first part of the morning, but then tending to retreat towards the coast, i think, as we go through the day. small chance of one or two showers out towards the west, but for the majority, it is another fine day with quite a lot of hot sunshine, and those temperatures easily getting to 30 or 31 degrees. but parts of highlands scotland getting to 29, so this very warm weather quite widespread. late in the day, though, we could well see some sharp showers and thunderstorms just starting to break out across the south—west of england. and through the weekend, it�*s a story of very slow changes. the further north and west you are on saturday,

the greater the chance of seeing some showers and thunderstorms breaking out, whereas further south and east, there will be some sunshine. and actually this could be the hottest day of all with highs of 32 or maybe 33 degrees. but as we move out of saturday into sunday, the area of high pressure that has been with us tends to retreat eastwards, and not with any great organisation, we see some clumps of unsettled weather trying to make a move. i think it will still be hot towards the south—east corner on sunday, but into the start of next week, it turns more unsettled and markedly cooler.

this is bbc news, the headlines... a bbc news investigation finds dozens of young autistic people died after serious failings in their care — despite repeated warnings from coroners. the uk rejoins the european union�*s science research scheme — horizon. we hearfrom the head of the uk�*s space agency. and — the 2023 mercury prize takes place in london, tonight. favourites to win the prestigious award include raye, young fathers and jessie ware sport and time for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre.