File on 4 Investigates Folgen

Gambling is a multi-billion pound industry which is facing change. For years there has been mounting concern that in the digital era betting companies have expanded far beyond the reach of the law and the Government is set to table major new rules to transform how the industry is governed. But the reforms will not consider whether people who have been drawn into criminality by a gambling addiction are being failed by the criminal justice system. File on 4 uncovers significant failings throughout the criminal justice system when it comes to gambling-related crime. Reporter Paul Connolly speaks to people who have been jailed for gambling-related frauds, who reveal a lack of awareness among police and the judicial system, an absence of treatment and a prison system unable to offer even the most basic help to people with gambling addictions.Reporter: Paul Connolly Producer: Ben Robinson Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley Production Manager: Sarah Payton Editor: Carl Johnston

Russia’s response to accusations of war crimes in Ukraine has been to blame the Ukrainians of bombing their own side. Some people here in the UK have been sharing this version of the war on social media. Driven by a conviction that Western governments are responsible for many of the world’s ills, these academics, journalists and celebrities have shared misinformation in their attempts to raise questions about the official narrative of the war. Their detractors say they are useful to Vladimir Putin. They claim there’s a McCarthyist witch hunt against them. All wars are fought as much in the information space as on the battle field and Chloe Hadjimatheou looks at where the new red lines are being drawn in an age of disinformation.This programme is subject to clarifications. It referred to Dr Justin Schlosberg's tweets about Bucha questioning why a massacre in the city wasn't mentioned until four days after Russian troops had left. File on 4 said: 'Dr Schlosberg highlighted this in his tweet. How could the Mayor have failed to refer to such an atrocity - surely something's up?' In fact this was the presenter's summary of Dr Schlosberg's sentiments, not a direct quote. We also agree that we should have included Dr Schlosberg's explanation that he tweeted because it wasn't clear what was going on in Bucha, that it was right to apply due caution until the UN had done an authoritative investigation and the idea that he was pushing a particular Kremlin narrative is absurd.The programme also referenced a parliamentary question from Robert Halfon, MP, and some listeners might have concluded that Dr Schlosberg was one of the academics he specifically named for “spreading misinformation” as he put it. We wish to make it clear that he was not.More details here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications/

Why are a disproportionate number of black children being strip searched? File on 4 hears from teenagers taken in for a ‘strippy’ so often, it’s become part of life. The strip search of ‘Child Q’, a fifteen year old black girl in a London school, was headline news, sparking outrage and official inquiries. Her teachers claimed she smelled of cannabis, but no drugs were ever found. A safeguarding report said racism a likely influencing factor in Child Q’s ordeal. The Metropolitan police admitted the strip search should never have happened. But for some black girls and boys, humiliating – and sometimes unlawful – strip searches are nothing new. File on 4 hears from young people who’ve been strip searched so often they’ve lost count – in their bedrooms, in children’s homes, and in the back of police vans. We know children from ethnic minorities are being disproportionately strip searched. File on 4 can reveal that in the last five years, on average fifty children a week were strip searched in England and Wales - a disproportionate number of them from ethnic minorities.Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Hayley Mortimer Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Payton Editor: Carl Johnston