5 Live Investigates

Four years after the introduction of new laws to target revenge porn offenders, 5 Live Investigates can reveal how cases are on the rise but the number of prosecutions is falling. The revelations come as a charity set up to help victims called the Revenge Porn Helpline reports a 150 per cent increase in the number of calls to its service Photo credit: Antonio Guillem\Getty

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance describes itself as an anti-extremist group of football supporters with a commitment to raising funds for the homeless and social justice campaigns. But critics say it’s a far right organisation which has an anti-Islamist agenda. Its marches and demonstrations have attracted rival groups of anti-fascists and have resulted in skirmishes. The Premier League says it has raised its concerns with the UK Football Policing Unit and the Home Office. There are also worries that closed DFLA Facebook groups are being used as a platform to promote anti-Muslim hatred and anti-migrant rhetoric and violence.

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Calls for a cross party inquiry into claims that a growing number of families are being accused of inventing or causing their children’s illness. It’s called Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII) and used to be known as Munchausen’s Syndrome By Proxy. It’s a rare form of abuse where parents exaggerate their child’s medical condition – or even cause it. Campaigners and charities say many families have been wrongly accused and want the inquiry to look at what they describe as a “wave of false allegations” and the current guidelines around FII. 5 Live Investigates first looked at this in March when we spoke to mums and dads threatened with having their children taken off them after being accused of FII. Following the programme, we have been contacted by other families who say this has happened to them. We’ve also been told about many other cases. One involves a mother accused of poisoning her two year old daughter and ordered to live apart from her for almost a year until the case was dismissed.

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Abbie Bull is 22 and has had serious acne for three years. It got so bad she felt unable to leave the house for fear of being stared at. She developed depression and anxiety but when she went to her doctor for help, she didn’t get it. 5 Live Investigates has learned that thousands who suffer from serious skin conditions like acne, eczema and psoriasis, can’t access the psychological support they need because it either doesn’t exist where they live or they have to join long waiting lists. The programme surveyed 180 members of the British Association of Dermatologists dermatologists and asked them whether they had access to a dedicated psychodermatology service within the region they work. Three quarters of them said they didn't. NHS England say health authorities need to take into account the psychological needs of all patients. The Welsh Government say they expect health boards to put in place services tailored to the individual needs of patients and the Health and Social Care Board for Northern Ireland says it has just commissioned a psychodermatology service which will be available to all trusts in the country.

5 Live Investigates has seen figures which show a big rise in the number of rapes, sexual assaults and stalking cases involving victims who were targeted on online dating platforms and mobile apps. The programme has received figures from more than half of the police forces in England and Wales which show the number of crimes has more than doubled between 2015 and 2018.

The programme hears from the mother of a woman who was murdered after meeting a man on a website called Plenty of Fish and a man who had his drinks spiked by a convicted sex offender he met on an app called Grindr. Forensic psychologist Dr Ruth Tully works with offenders who have targeted people via dating apps. She tells 5 Live Investigates the platforms provide ‘opportunity’ and if they didn’t exist, the crimes would never have happened.

The Online Dating Association which represents some online dating sites and mobile apps says its members do all they can to protect people from harm.

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5 Live Investigates has seen new evidence that hundreds of vulnerable children with Special Educational Needs are being injured whilst being restrained by teachers and classroom assistants. Physical and mechanical restraint techniques can be used against children as young as four without schools having to report it to anyone - even parents. But after 5 Live Investigates reported on this in 2017, the Government promised to introduce strict new guidelines detailing how restraint techniques should be used safely. Two years on and nothing has happened. Today the Children's Commissioners of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have asked the United Nations to investigate the use of restraint.

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‘I try not to call him. I’ll wait for him to call because he tends not to call me when he’s drunk. He drinks most of the time - a bottle of vodka a day.’ Maria is 25, the daughter of an alcoholic and one of a growing number of young adults who has a parent who’s a problem drinker. The National Association for the Children of Alcoholics has told 5 Live Investigates that the number of grown-up children contacting them for help about a parent’s excessive drinking now makes up 80 per cent of their work - compared to half that five years ago. The charity says more and more parents are becoming problem drinkers in later life. But Liam Byrne MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children of Alcoholics, tells the programme that alcohol and drug treatment services have been cut all over the country.

The organ transplant service is at ‘breaking point’ according to one of the UK’s top consultant transplant surgeons. Professor Nizam Mamode who is president of the Chapter of Surgeons at the British Transplantation Society, has told 5 Live Investigates that overworked staff, a shortage of operating theatres and difficulties in recruiting are problems that need to be urgently addressed. His warning follows the announcement earlier this month that opt-out organ donation will become law from 2020. ‘Max and Keira’s Law’ – named after the donated heart of Keira Bell, nine, saved the life of Max Johnson, 10, in 2017 – will mean all adults’ organs can be taken after they die unless they specifically tell the NHS otherwise. The government says it could save as many as 700 lives a year

The victims of the most serious crimes who are having to wait longer than ever for the police to turn up. Figures obtained by 5 Live Investigates reveal some of the biggest police forces in the UK are taking almost twice as long to respond to so called ‘grade one’ emergencies as they were five years ago. The programme hears from the parents of a schizophrenic who made an emergency call to the police saying they feared for his girlfriend’s safety because he was attacking her. When police arrived three hours later Suzanne Brown was found dead from multiple stab wounds. 5 Live’s findings follow a spate of fatal knife attacks this year which have prompted Britain’s most senior police officer Cressida Dick to warn cuts in police numbers are contributing to a rise in violent crime. The Home Office says it ensures police have the resources they need to carry out their vital work.

The mums and dads threatened with having their disabled sons and daughters taken into care – accused of inventing or exaggerating their child’s illness. These are parents of children with conditions which are sometimes difficult to diagnose - such as autism spectrum disorder or rare inherited conditions. Some parents claim their council has used child protection concerns to delay paying for expensive care. They’ve been accused of a rare form of child abuse known as Fabricating or Induced Illness (FII) also known as Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy where a parent or carer exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness in the child.

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Teenager Thomas Jones went missing on a night out with friends during his first week at university in Worcester. His body was recovered from the River Severn more than a week later. 5 Live Investigates has been told that Thomas's death and dozens more like it could have been prevented - if only certain safety measures were put in place. 150 young men have died after going missing on a night out over the last nine years. 5 Live Investigates has seen new research which reveals between 10 and 20 men die every year after going missing in towns and cities across the UK – the majority of them under the age of 35. Practical safety measures like late night transport to get people home, improved lighting and barriers between footpaths and waterways could all help prevent similar tragedies in the future, according to campaigners and charities.

5 Live Investigates has discovered three of the UK’s leading supermarkets are misleading customers by selling food which is high in salt or fat in the healthier choices sections of their stores. The British Dietetic Association says the supermarkets are being ‘unhelpful’ and the practise is ‘confusing’ for customers.

Researchers visited the top five supermarkets in the UK and found Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco were all selling products high in salt and saturated fat in areas marked as containing healthy or healthier choices food. The Royal Society for Public Health says the findings raise the possibility of the introduction of a supermarket regulator.

Tesco has told 5 Live it’s sorry some of its products were mistakenly included under a ‘Healthy and Diet Meals’ sign. Morrisons says their 'Healthier Choices' section gives customers the option to buy an item that is healthier than a product that meets a similar need – even though it might still carry a red traffic light label. And Sainsbury’s say it’s going to update its signage to reflect that vegetarian and plant based meals are now stocked alongside their range of healthier meals.

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Around 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK every year. Many can spend weeks or even months in hospital fighting for their lives. But limited maternity and paternity rights mean many parents are having to return to work much sooner than they would like. The charity Bliss which supports families of premature and sick infants has surveyed more than 700 parents and shared its data with 5 Live Investigates. It reveals two thirds of fathers had to return to work whilst their baby was on a neonatal unit and more than a quarter of them had to choose between taking time off when their baby was is in neonatal or when their child went home. The programme hears from parents like Gemma and Andy Reid who were forced to make some tough decisions when their baby Gabriel was born a year ago.

There are now more than half a million vegans in Britain – with more than a quarter of a million people trying out a vegan diet last month – double the number of people who signed up for ‘veganuary’ in 2018. There’s no doubt that veganism is a more humane and potentially more sustainable alternative to a traditional diet containing meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. But could going vegan actually be bad for your health? 5 Live Investigates hears concerns that for some, it could have serious health consequences. Rebecca Hills, 20, tells the programme she used a vegan diet to conceal her eating disorder. But for Rebecca Hills, 20, going vegan wasn’t about 'ethics' and 'healthy eating', like she told people. It was to cover up her eating disorder. “In the back of my mind I was thinking that veganism would be a really good way to lose weight,” she said. The charity Beat Eating Disorders believes Rebecca may not be alone: “Some people may use veganism or vegetarianism to conceal their eating disorder, as it becomes socially acceptable to follow a restrictive diet.”

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Thousands of police officers and civilian staff haven't been vetted since the introduction of strict guidelines in 2006. 36 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales responded to a Freedom of Information request from 5 Live Investigates. But 16 of the forces that provided information said they hadn't performed retrospective background checks on a total of 5,966 police officers and staff since the policy was introduced. The programme has also discovered that the number of police officers investigated for abusing their 'power for sexual gains' has more than doubled over a 4 year period - from 84 in 2014/15 to 170 in 2017/18. The revelations follow the conviction in December 2018 of Cheshire PC Ian Naude who was sentenced to 25 years for raping a 13-year-old girl who he groomed after attending an incident at her home. PC Naude passed Cheshire Police's vetting process despite allegations of sex offences being investigated by two neighbouring forces prior to joining the force.

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Alice Franklin is one of 300,000 people in the UK with Tourette’s Syndrome. For 25-year-old Alice, the condition manifests itself in uncontrollable body movements or ‘tics’ – jerking, twitching, punching walls and windows and involuntarily collapsing to the floor. The physical side of the condition is the hardest to deal with and exhausting she says. But she also swears and hurls impromptu insults at individuals she’s just met – including her new boss and customers in a bar where she worked. It’s a life-changing condition Alice has lived with for more than three years – but for her and thousands like her, therapy isn’t readily available. In fact, a survey shared exclusively with 5 Live Investigates by the charity Tourette’s Action shows even when a diagnosis has eventually been made, most aren’t given medication or directed to any form of behavioural therapy. And even when they are, it can take years to access. There are no NICE guidelines relating to the condition and Tourette’s Action says the condition is widely misunderstood by the medical profession. More than 460 people responded to the charity's survey and 79 per cent of respondents said their mental health had been affected by the condition. More than a third said they’d considered suicide of engaged in self-harming behaviour.

An investigation by BBC Radio 5 Live Investigates reveals problem gamblers are able to continue betting online even when they sign up to a national self-exclusion scheme. More than 50,000 people have signed up to the GamStop scheme which allows addicts to ban themselves from online betting platforms. But 5 Live Investigates recruits the son of a problem gambler to sign up to the scheme to test if it works. After banning himself, Adam Bradford, whose dad David lost more than £100,00 by gambling online, is able to sign up to a new gambling website by changing just a few small personal details. GamStop say they're 'deeply concerned' by the findings. The programme also returns to Grimsby where a year ago a producer self-excluded from all the high street bookies in the town. But he was able to place bets on high stakes fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT's) in all but two of the betting shops he was banned from. A year on, the programme returns to Grimsby to find out if anything has changed.

There has been a big increase in the number of vulnerable children being housed alone without live in support. In some cases youngsters have been placed in bed and breakfast accommodation, bedsits and even caravans by the local authorities that are meant to be looking after them. Figures obtained by 5 Live Investigates show the number of young people aged 16 and 17 and placed in what’s called ‘independent living accommodation’ has gone up by 28 per cent in England since 2010. Young care leavers tell the programme they’ve been placed in dwellings over-run by drug users, alcoholics and abusers. The Children’s Commissioner says she is now launching an investigation into the crisis. The Government says the law is clear and that local authorities must provide accommodation that meets children’s needs and that includes appropriate supervision whilst in that accommodation.

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MP’s have told 5 live Investigates they want the roll-out of ‘all-lane running’ smart motorways to be suspended amid concerns over the safety of stranded motorists and the recovery workers who go to rescue them. All-lane running – or ALR – motorways are stretches of carriageway where the hard shoulder has been removed and converted into a running lane. That lane is only closed to traffic in the event of an incident. Highways England says ALR motorways are as safe as traditional motorways and they improve traffic flow. But there are many people who disagree. Ellie Montgomery and her family became stranded on a traditional motorway which didn’t have a hard shoulder because of road works. Their vehicle was hit by an HGV on the M6 in Cheshire and the family narrowly escaped serious injury. She sets out her concerns about taking away hard shoulders.

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Anna Boniface was selected to run for England after she became the first non-elite woman to finish the London Marathon in 2017. But over-training and under-eating meant her dreams were short-lived because she failed to finish the event after suffering a stress fracture to her ankle. She was later diagnosed with a condition known as Energy Deficiency in Sport - brought on by pushing her body to the limit and failing to refuel properly. The condition affects hundreds of young athletes and can lead to serious eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. It can also weaken bones, stop women athletes from having periods and dramatically reduce testosterone levels in men. As the TrainBrave campaign is launched to raise awareness of the condition, 5 Live Investigates hears from those suffering the consequences. They include a young cyclist left with the bones of an 80-year old, and an Olympic hopeful forced to give up athletics in her mid-20’s after four spinal fractures brought on by her diet.

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The LGBT people trapped in abusive relationships because they say the police don’t take them seriously and they can’t access support services. 5 live Investigates has discovered the number of gay, bisexual and trans men and women involved in recorded domestic abuse crimes is going up. But experts say the figures represent only a fraction of the abuse in the LGBT community. One LGBT domestic abuse charity has told the programme it’s seeing more than double the number of victims it was seeing five years ago. But thousands don’t bother reporting because they think they’ll get a negative response from the police.

Nine out of 10 people who buy a new home report so-called 'snagging' issues according to a new survey seen by 5 live Investigates. The New Homes Review 2018 is an independent survey of 687 people who've bought new homes within the last year. Craig Wakeman and his partner Tracy Bickford bought their £325,000 three-bedroom dream home from developers Bovis in November 2016. The couple and their two daughters were eventually forced out of the property after 354 faults were discovered in a series of surveys. Two years since buying the house near Worcester, the family still aren't able to move back in. Mr Wakeman tells 5 live Investigates: "We're in a position where we own a house that we can't live in, that we can't sell, that's got that many faults in it you're always going to question whether of not the house is going to be right. We've asked Bovis homes to take the keys back and take the home off us but they've refused to do that." Bovis has apologised to the family and says the company is 'completely focussed on putting right what has gone wrong.'

Thousands of children with special educational needs are disappearing from education with ‘concerning’ consequences, Ofsted has told 5Live Investigates. Inspectors have admitted that when pupils are ‘off rolled’, they vanish from official records. ‘Off rolling’ is when schools put pressure on pupils to leave without permanently excluding them, in order to reach tough academic targets or save money. 5 Live investigates hears from the parents of children with conditions like autism who say their children are being forced out of schools and are having to be home schooled or taught in inadequate ‘alternative provision’ settings.

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The businesses that go bust – only to re-emerge under a different name with no debts. There are now calls for tighter regulations around so-called ‘phoenixing’ where companies rise from the ashes of collapsed businesses leaving employees and creditors with huge debts of their own. The practise also costs local authorities and HMRC billions. 5 Live Investigates hears the stories of those who’ve been left out of pocket and from those who want unscrupulous directors outlawed for good. Also, tool thefts from vans and the tradesmen who say their livelihoods are threatened but they can't get the police to take them seriously.

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The men who sexually harass women by watching pornography on public transport and other public places. It's been described as a new form of sexual harassment and there have been calls this week for it to be made a criminal offence. 5 live Investigates hears from the women who've been subjected to this behaviour and asks why bus and train companies aren't doing more to block pornography being downloaded via their WiFi networks. The programme also reports on a big rise in the number of hit and runs on Britain’s roads. 5 live Investigates has obtained figures via Freedom of Information requests which show a three-fold increase in just five years. But whilst the number of drivers leaving the scene has shot up – the number facing the courts has fallen dramatically. The programme hears calls for tougher sentencing from those whose lives have been left devastated

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Holly Smallman has a series of complex life-limiting conditions. Yet the 16-year-old is among thousands of babies, children and young people who are likely to die young but can't access the care and support they need, according to a report by the All-Parliamentary Group for Children Who Need Palliative Care. They say the Government is failing in its end of life care choice commitment to provide adequate support which represents ‘a wholly unjustified health inequality. Holly's mum Hayley tells 5 Live Investigates: “I’m beyond exhausted. We have to do critical care for Holly out-of-hours ourselves or take her to hospital. After 5pm and at the weekends it’s very frightening”

The online fundraising platforms designed to raise money for good causes – but targeted by fraudsters. Online giving has transformed the way we help the charities we care about - more than £2 billion is raised every year on websites and social media. But 5 live Investigates hears from some of the people who’ve fallen victim to scams including the family of a six year old girl who died from leukaemia. Fraudsters set up a fake fundraising page after her death. There are also calls for a cap on the commission charged by some fundraising platforms amid claims they are taking too much.

E-cigarettes and vaping liquids are being sold to children online and on the high street, 5 live Investigates has discovered. Trading Standards is investigating after researchers on the programme bought prohibited products online. A 16 year old girl was also able to buy vaping products from one in three shops in Camden, London. The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations of 2016 forbid the sale of e-cigarette nicotine products to under-18's. Studies have suggested that young people who vape are more likely to start smoking tobacco products.

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Fraudsters scammed nearly 49000 older people in the UK last year - equivalent to six victims every hour of the day across the UK, 5 Live Investigates has discovered. The figure has almost doubled in three years, but one expert says the true number of victims was likely to be in the millions. 5 live Investigates asked Action Fraud, the UK police's cyber crime reporting centre, for a breakdown of the five most common types of frauds affecting older people. During 2017/18, advanced fee frauds, which include victims being told they have won the lottery but must pay a fee to receive it, were the most common scams with almost 20,000 cases - including 370 victims aged over 90. Computer software service fraud, in which victims are told their computer has been compromised by a virus, was the second most common crime. In one year alone, victims lost more than £135m in these type of scams.

Staff shortages in pathology labs mean patients are facing worrying delays in diagnosis and treatment, according to the Royal College of Pathologists (RCP). 5 live Investigates has been told just three per cent of histopathology departments across the UK have enough staff to meet clinical demand. The programme hears from patients who have faced an agonising wait for test results. The RCP says staff shortages are costing the NHS £27m every year.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Gambling Commission are investigating after 5 live Investigates revealed professional football clubs have included links to gambling websites on junior web pages. Programme researchers discovered 15 clubs in the Premier League, the Championship, League One and the Scottish Professional Football League were in breach of ASA guidelines. Some of the clubs involved have since removed the links. Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield described the findings as 'hugely surprising.' She has also called for education around gambling to made part of the national curriculum in schools. And the parents of Jack Ritchie, who started gambling as a schoolboy, reveal how their son killed himself after becoming addicted to online betting websites.

Whether you're buying a house or a hairdryer, the chances are you'll have looked at an online review site to work out what you're likely to get for your money. The government's Competition and Markets Authority estimates that every year £23 billion of UK consumer spending is influenced by online reviews. But can they all be trusted? 5 live Investigates reveals how easy it is to buy fake five star reviews on one of the world's biggest online platforms and how people are still being paid to leave fake reviews for products sold on Amazon - despite a crackdown by the company more than a year ago.

5Live Investigates examines the routine care people with dementia receive when in an acute hospital. Previously unseen research which was commissioned by the NHS's National Institute for Health Research paints a desperate picture of life on our hospital wards, including a "culture of restraint and containment" in response to resisting care, as well as staff burnout and dehumanisation of patients. The Department of Health says it aims to make England the best place in the world to live with dementia.

Senior fire officers are warning of potential safety risks as more and more people let out their houses to tourists through Airbnb and other short term letting websites. The National Fire Chiefs Council says fire and rescue services are not aware of how many short term rental properties are operating in their areas, making it hard for them to assess possible risks. It says some of these properties are being used in effect as small hotels, but if fire officers don't know where places are they can't inspect or give owners advice to ensure buildings are safe. MPs have called for all properties operating in this way to be registered. The Short Term Accommodation Association, the professional body for the short let sector, says it has adopted the safety standards of the residential long let industry. It says in instances where those standards are not being met it addresses them with urgency.

Thousands of victims of economic and physical abuse are unable to get emergency court orders preventing their abuser from causing them harm because they don't qualify for free legal aid. 5 live Investigates has been given figures by the National Centre for Domestic Violence which reveal that more than 6,000 victims referred to them by the police were unable to access free legal representation. Applicants are means tested and in many cases told they have to make a financial contribution to the legal bill. The NCDV says too many women are turned away because they appear to own assets or savings which are actually under their abuser's control.

The human cost of Britain's crumbling roads. 5 live Investigates hears from the victims and families of those who've been killed in accidents involving potholes. The programme has learned local authorities have had to pay-out £38 million pounds in compensation over the last five years - but that's significantly less than the £9 billion pounds some say it will cost to bring our roads up to scratch. Most of the compensation goes to motorists who've suffered damage to their vehicles. But the biggest pay-outs are reserved for cyclists - the most vulnerable road users of them all. Nearly £7m paid-out to them and their families in the last 5 years.

Charities could have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations after 750 clothing banks were removed from car parks. Recycling companies and charities which operates the banks says up to 20 a week have gone missing in the last 12 months. The Textile Recycling Association says some of the banks have been resprayed and branded with a different charity logo and placed at sites without permission. The Charity Commission has launched an investigation into one charity. There are around 15 thousand textile banks throughout the UK often placed at supermarket carparks and recycling sites. More than 300,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles are collected each year. Some of the banks are run by charities themselves such as The Salvation Army, Oxfam and the British Heart Foundation, but others are operated by private recycling companies who give a donation to their chosen charities - on average £250 for every tonne of clothes collected. Around £75m was given to charities and local authorities last year. The Textile Recycling Association (TRA) - which represents the sector - says clothing banks have been taken from across England - including the North West, the Midlands and Eastern England. It says charities receive on average £70 a week from each bank and because it can take between six to eight weeks to replace a bank, it is feared charities could have lost more than a third of a million pounds in donations. In some cases, the recycling companies aren't replacing the banks so the charities will lose out permanently.

It's estimated that 1.8 million disabled people are struggling to find accessible housing in the UK. 5 live Investigates has seen research which reveals the average wait in England could be more than 12 years -and that's if nobody else joins the waiting list. The programme hears from Paul Perry - a 26-year-old man who's been trapped in hospital for 18 months. And a man in his 50's with spinal injuries who says he's a prisoner in his own bedroom in an old people's home which isn't equipped to deal with his needs.

Scores of charity shop workers have been investigated for sexually inappropriate behaviour in the workplace in the last 12 months, according to figures obtained by 5 live Investigates. The programme has also learned that convicted paedophiles have been allowed to work in shops because DBS checks haven't been done. The CEO of the organisation Whistleblowers UK says the charity industry is a magnet for people who are predatory. 'The charities sector...is seen as a nice place to be -lots of people who work there are volunteers doing good work. It's almost as if regulation for them is deemed unnecessary because of course everybody who works there would be nice. And yet those are the areas that attract people who are predatory. All of the evidence supports this. We've heard about inappropriate relationships between members of staff, between staff and volunteers and also volunteers raising concerns about the way staff have interacted with vulnerable children and teenagers.'.

5 live Investigates is in the London borough of Newham - dubbed the acid attack capital of Britain. Shopkeepers there have signed up to a voluntary code of practise banning the sale of corrosive substances to under 21's - but are they as good as their word? The programme follows a 14-year-old as she attempts to buy corrosive liquids from stores in the area. Newham mayor Sir Robin Wales and local Labour MP Stephen Timms have called on the government to crackdown on sales. The programme also has new FOI figures which reveal a three-fold rise in attacks across England and Wales between 2013 and the end of 2017. Acid attack survivors Adele Bellis and Jabed Hussain also reveal the long term physical and emotional effects.

The shortfall of new affordable homes in England will soon be equivalent to a city the size of Leeds according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. They tell 5 live Investigates that supply has fallen short of demand by 30,000 every year since 2011 and the cumulative shortfall could reach 335,000 by the end of this parliament. The government says it's investing £9bn in the sector. Married parents of three Dawn and Adrian, from Milton Keynes, tell 5 live Investigates their family's health has suffered since being forced into temporary accommodation while they wait for suitable social housing to become available. "Both of us have had issues with mental health and ability to cope," said Dawn, who asked that their surnames not be published. "It's all come to a head, the culmination of that means Adrian's pretty much had a breakdown for the last couple of months and been signed off work," she said. Adrian, who like Dawn works full-time, said not being able to afford a home meant that "being a proud man, at the end of the day, I took a lot of stick to myself. I beat myself up inside. "Because when you've got a wife and three children, I felt a failure," he said.

Skin creams containing paraffin could be responsible for 'hundreds' of fire deaths across the UK according to fire chiefs. 5 live Investigates revealed last year that 37 deaths had been linked to the creams since 2010. But the programme has learned there have been a further eight deaths - and leading firefighters warn that figure could be much higher because fire and rescue services don't always record the fact that skin creams were involved. Following 5 live's investigation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency urged all manufactures to place warnings on their products, advising consumers to wash clothes and bedding properly to reduce the build-up of paraffin. But of the 38 products containing paraffin and licensed for sale in the UK, just seven of them carry warnings. Brian Bicat, 82, died six months after the MHRA issued its guidance after accidentally setting himself on fire. His family say they weren't aware of the dangers of using skin creams and consumers need to be given advice to prevent more deaths in the future.

An investigation into online-only estate agents and whether their cut price, up-front fees really do offer value for money. The online-only property business has gone from strength to strength since it emerged just a few years ago and it's now threatening the very survival of traditional agents on the high street. But are sales exaggerated and is advertising misleading? 5 Live Investigates hears from the companies and their customers about how this expanding sector of the market is performing. Before these companies arrived on the scene, estate agents typically charged a commission of 1-2% on a house price once the sale goes through. Online-only agents have changed all that. They list your house on property portals like Rightmove or Zoopla and charge you a fixed fee which customers usually pay upfront. For most properties that fee is a lot lower than what you would pay a traditional agent - but the big difference is with the online-only agents you pay whether you sell or not, so it's a gamble. The programme examines new research from investment bank Jefferies which suggests that statistically around half of customers who use the online-only agents could be wasting their money. And it hears from the leading online-only estate agency Purplebricks which disputes the research saying that 78% of customers successfully sell their home with the company.

Maria Miller MP says we should consider using hate crime laws to tackle sexual harassment. She has launched an inquiry into 'routine' sexual harassment of women on buses, trains, in the street and in bars and clubs. Victims of sexual harassment share their experiences with 5 live Investigates. The programme also hears from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission whose survey into sexual harassment reveals only half of sexual harassment victims actually report it to their employers. Even when they do - in the vast majority of cases - nothing happens. Unite the Union is in the middle of its own survey which reveals 97 per cent of those who have responded experienced sexual harassment first hand. 83 per cent have received unwelcome and inappropriate touching, hugging or kissing and 47 per cent have received requests for sexual favours.

A million rented properties in England have hazards that put tenants' health and safety at risk. The government says it's backing a change in the law - giving greater powers to take bad landlords to court. 5 live Investigates has been told one in ten people who rent their homes have reported health and safety concerns in the last 12 months. According to a survey by YouGov for the housing charity Shelter, one in ten have also suffered health problems as a direct result of the environment they live in.

Stalking is a devastating crime suffered by more than a million people a year. New figures obtained by 5Live Investigates reveal that men are the hidden victims. Are the police letting them down? The latest figures estimate that nearly half a million men have been stalked but only a tiny fraction of those incidents were recorded by the police. A Freedom of Information request by 5Live Investigates reveals that just 1800 crimes of stalking in which the victims were men were recorded over the last four years, since the obligation came in for police to log it as a crime. The Suzy Lamplugh Trust has described the figure as likely to be "a drip in the ocean". Very often victims don't report the offence when it happens to them. But even when they do, men who spoke to the programme said the authorities don't take them seriously. Their concerns are echoed by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary which said in a report last year that victims were left at risk by poorly run investigations and that stalking often went unrecorded. The Home Office said those suffering stalking should be supported regardless of gender and that the new civil stalking protection orders due to be introduced would protect them at an early stage. If you are affected by these issues you can find details of organisations providing help and support here: bbc.co.uk/actionline.

The betting industry watchdog the Gambling Commission has launched an inquiry into a self-exclusion scheme designed to help problem gamblers. It follows an undercover investigation by 5 live Investigates. The programme's reporter signed up to the Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion Scheme (MOSES) and got himself barred from 21 betting shops in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He submitted his details and a photograph of himself to the scheme which were then distributed to the 21 shops he asked to be excluded from. Ten days later, he then visited them all and attempted to play on fixed odds betting terminals which he did without being challenged in 19 of them. In two of the shops he was recognised and asked to leave. The Association of Bookmakers said: "We accept that the current self-exclusion scheme is not without flaws. However we are continually developing improved systems." The Senet Group, which runs the MOSES scheme on behalf of the gambling industry, said the programme's findings were 'a wake-up call.'.

Adrian Goldberg hears calls from teachers to ban high-caffeine energy drinks from schools - with one teaching union describing them as 'readily available legal highs'. Despite the cans carrying warnings that they are not suitable for children, figures suggest more than two thirds of 10 to 18-year-olds are drinking them once a week or more, at levels considered unsafe by the government. We speak to researchers who say under-16s are being influenced by the huge marketing budgets behind the major brands and talk to school children about why they drink them.

Are front line police officers paying the price of job cuts through rising stress and mental illness? Long term sick leave for mental health issues has shot up by 72% since 2010, at the same time as officer numbers have fallen by 16%, according to Freedom of Information figures obtained by 5Live Investigates.

Officers tell the programme pressures are rising because there aren't enough officers now to share the strain. And when they become unwell it can be hard to seek help because of the stigma behind talking about mental health issues. Some say there isn't enough in-house support when things get tough, but that forces are struggling too because the money isn't there to do more.

Across England and Wales police officer numbers are lower than they have been for 20 years according to Home Office data.

One sergeant tells the programme 'Officers are having to go to a lot more incidents, a hell of a lot more in such a short space of time without being able to step away and process it in their mind before they go on to something else. It has had an impact and it will continue to have an impact until officer numbers are increased'. The government says it recognises the job can place stressful demands on people and has announced a £7,500,000 pilot service to better support forces.

Adrian Goldberg hears from patients struggling to see an NHS neurology specialist as separate reports warn of issues across the UK. We reveal figures showing the number of consultant neurologists able to deal with conditions ranging from migraine to Parkinson's lags far behind the rest of the EU and hear from an MP who says services are not fit for purpose and getting worse.

Adrian Goldberg reveals a new report which describes the commissioning of palliative care for children with life-shortening conditions as 'patchy and inconsistent'. The report highlights the lack of specialist services at weekends and overnight when many parents need it most. We hear the moving stories of parents struggling to get the right support for the weeks, months or in many cases years that they are caring for their children - and the desperate financial situation they can be thrown into when their child dies.

Adrian Goldberg meets the child footballers trapped by eye watering transfer deadlocks and whose careers are held to ransom by some of the game's biggest clubs.

Download the podcast: bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live.

Experts have told 5 live Investigates that tens of thousands of drivers are breaking the law by driving diesel cars without crucial particulate filters. They're known as DPFs - or diesel particulate filters - and they stop harmful particles of soot from entering the atmosphere. But they get clogged up and can affect car performance. What's more, they can cost thousands of pounds to replace - so drivers have them removed. The programme also reveals how the MOT test which is designed to detect the removal of DPFs isn't fit for purpose.

UK taxpayers are funding billions of pounds worth of research into life-changing drugs - only to be told they can't have them when they need them. 5 live Investigates has seen new research which shows that the NHS spent more than a billion pounds last year alone on medicines which were developed using our money - and those were just the drugs that were deemed affordable. Many more which have been researched and developed with taxpayer's cash aren't made available to patients because they're regarded as too expensive. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry says drug companies invest billions in the research and development of medicines over long periods.

Download the podcast: bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live.

Figures obtained by 5 live Investigates show reported hate crimes against disabled children are rising. Police forces across the UK recorded 450 incidents reported last year, up from 181 in 2014-15, 5 live Investigates found. The Home Office says the rise was due to better reporting and more victims willing to come forward. Bethan Germon's 23-month-old daughter Lydia has hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, which causes her head to swell. It means at one point Lydia's head was double its natural size. She also has cerebral palsy and is fed through a tube. "You see a really ugly side of people online to the point where they say they wish she was dead or why don't we kill her," Bethan said. "The online commenting has easily been the worst and my husband has actually made sure that I come offline for a couple of days when things have been said.

Adrian Goldberg uncovers a rise in the number of patient attacks on mental health workers over the last five years. Figures obtained by 5 live Investigates show a 25% rise in assaults on staff.

Incidents over that time include a healthcare assistant who was stabbed to death; a member of staff whose finger was bitten off and a nurse who had boiling water thrown in their face.

Last year there were over 40,000 cases, and the number in England alone has increased by more than a third. Adrian speaks to those at centre of the story and finds out what is being done to reduce the numbers.

Download the podcast: bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live.

The Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove has told 5 live Investigates she is launching an investigation into the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority over concerns it is failing the most vulnerable victims in society. Two of the UK's biggest charities tell the programme that hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse could suffer further psychological damage because of delays in reviewing compensation claims. Ten weeks ago the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) promised an 'urgent' review of cases in which payments were refused because victims were deemed to have consented to their abuse. Barnardo's and Victim Support have accused CICA of 'victim blaming' and say delays in reviewing the cases could cause further distress. The programme hears from those who've been affected and those who are trying to changes the way CICA works. The Ministry of Justice says victims who have been groomed should never be treated as if they consented and it's is vital that victims get access to the compensation they deserve.

More and more lorry drivers are manipulating the on board computers which measure their driving time - putting their lives and the lives of other road users at risk. The DVSA has told 5 live Investigates there has been a 21 per cent increase in the number of drivers caught using cheat devices. But the so-called 'interrupters' don't just allow drivers to drive tired - they stop speedometers and anti-lock braking systems from working which could have catastrophic consequences on the roads.

The number of UK fire and rescue staff taking long-term sick leave due to mental illness has risen by nearly a third over the last six years a according to figures obtained by 5 live Invesigates. In London, fire staff taking leave for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder has doubled since 2011-12. 103 London fire staff have taken mental health leave this year, some after working at the Grenfell Tower tragedy. London Fire Brigade Borough Commander Richard Welch talks about how firefighters coped when confronted with the horrific scenes inside. And former firefighter Andy Graham tells the programme how his life has been haunted by some of the incidents he's attended during a 30 year career.

Education Secretary Justine Greening orders a review of council policies around school transport provision for disabled children after 5 live Investigates presents the Department for Education with evidence of widespread cuts. A survey of 2,500 parents by the charity Contact reveals that nearly half of them have had to give up work completely or cut down their hours - just so they can get their kids to school. The Local Government Authority says councils are being forced to make hard choices in the face of 'sustained financial challenges.'.

A Green heating system is forcing some residents into fuel poverty according to campaigners. District heating provides heating and hot water to more than 200,000 households in England and Wales. The system works by way of a central boiler which provides energy to properties. Government wants 8 million homes to adopt the system by 2050. It's supposed to be cheaper and environmentally friendly. But 5 live Investigates has learned that some residents are paying more than they would with a conventional boiler and some systems are unreliable.

Controlling or coercive behaviour was made illegal at the end of 2015. More than a year after it was introduced, 5 live Investigates has new data which reveals how often the new law is being implemented. The programme contacted all 43 police forces in England and Wales to find out how many suspects had been charged with the new offence. 25 of them provided figures - revealing they had charged 202 people. Two police forces say they haven't charged anyone. Critics say not all police officers are have been trained well enough to spot the signs of coercive or controlling behaviour and gather evidence to bring a prosecution. Louisa Rolfe who is deputy chief constable at West Midlands Police and the national police lead on domestic abuse says police forces have been slow to implement the new law but all forces have now had training and she expects to see the legislation used more often.

Hundreds of children have been injured whilst being physically restrained in special schools, according to figures obtained by 5 live Investigates. The programme has found cases where youngsters were pinned face-down on the floor, sustained broken bones, were strapped into chairs and in one case had their head covered with a 'spit hood'. A Freedom of Information request to the 207 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales revealed 13,000 physical restraints in the last three years, resulting in 731 injuries. But only 37 local authorities - less than a fifth - were able to provide data, suggesting the numbers could be much higher.

The Department of Education told the BBC: 'The protection of children is of the utmost importance and any instances of restraint being used inappropriately must be reported.' They say they plan to consult professionals, parents and carers on new draft guidance on reducing the need for restraint for children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders and mental health difficulties shortly.

Prosecution and conviction rates for drivers who cause fatal road crashes have fallen sharply - at the same time as police forces in England and Wales have lost thousands of traffic officers. Figures shared exclusively with 5 live Investigates by the charity RoadPeace reveal a 23 per cent drop in prosecutions in England and Wales in the 5 years to 2015. In the same period the number of convictions has fallen by nearly 30 per cent. The charity blames cuts to the police service with the number of specialist road officers slashed by nearly 40 per cent from 7,100 in 2005 to just 4,350 in 2014.

The response by emergency services to Wednesday's terror attack in Westminster was widely hailed a success. But how would a town or city outside of the capital cope with a similar attack? Just five months ago Lord Toby Harris published a wide ranging review on London's ability to deal with an attack just like the one that unfolded this week. He talks to 5 live Investigates about how the rest of the country might cope. Also Telegraph political editor Christopher Hope, Labour MP Ruth Smeeth and children's author Steve Voake tell how they found themselves at the heart of Wednesday's atrocities.

Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism. This week, we look at the dozens of cases of skin cream users who have died since 2010 by accidentally setting themselves on fire.

The creams contain paraffin and are used to treat conditions like eczema and psoriasis. But unless clothing and bedding are washed regularly, residue from the creams can build up, making fabrics highly flammable.

Hear from one woman whose husband died after setting himself on fire in hospital when he went for a cigarette. The medicines regulator the MHRA has asked manufacturers to include warnings on packaging.

Download the podcast at http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live.

There are calls for a national database of taxi drivers after 5 live Investigates discover some drivers are still operating - despite having their licences refused or revoked. Local authorities who are responsible for issuing licences currently don't share information. This means that if a council has refused or revoked a driver's licence, it won't necssarily be picked up by another local authority when that driver applies there. This means that predatory and sometimes dangerous drivers are still able to carry passengers. The Local Government Association and Dame Vera Baird - chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners - are now calling for a national database which they say would protect passengers.

Cases of babies born infected with a bacteria which can kill or leave them with life changing conditions are on the increase - even though they are preventable. In the UK two babies die every month and dozens more are left mentally and physically disabled by Group B Streptococcus - sometimes known as GBS or 'Strep B' - a bacteria which affect something like 500 newborns every year. 5 live Investigates has learned that the number of babies born with the infection increased by 12 per cent between 2011 and 2015. Campaigners who delivered a petition with a quarter of a million signatures earlier this year to the Department of Health, say that a simple test to detect GBS would cost the Health Service just £11 for every pregnant mum. The UK National Screening Committee which advises ministers and the NHS say the current test for 'Strep B' can't tell between between women whose babies will be affected and those who won't. They say that as a result, thousands of women would receive antibiotics during labour with unknown consequences.

Transgender children say they're being denied treatment by the NHS because they've sought help from private doctors. Many have resorted to seeking help outside of the health service because they say waiting lists are too long and there are delays in treatment because of lengthy assessments. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust - which runs the gender identity service for under 18's - says the wellbeing of young people is their prime concern - but they're not able to provide ongoing clinical supervision for the management of hormone treatments prescribed or accessed outside the service. Referrals to the Tavistock have reached a record high - more than 1,500 in this financial year already. There are currently 1,200 families on the waiting list and it's taking them between six and seven months to get a first appointment. NHS England says funding has been increased to meet demand. They say they continue to work with clinicians at the Tavistock and Portman to increase capacity and reduce waiting times 'as a matter of urgency.'.

Firefighters are being delayed in getting to emergencies because of a computerised dispatching system which regularly crashes and often fails to send the closest fire engine. The system, which is called VISION DS and supplied by the technology company Capita, is used by the UK's busiest fire brigade - London Fire Service, as well as brigades in the South West - Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, Devon and Somerset and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. Responding to a Freedom of Information request, London Fire Service has told 5 live Investigates that the system crashed 7 times in 2016 and they logged 195 separate problems. In the South West the system crashed 10 times in 2016 and - in some cases - it was down for several hours. One control room operator has told the programme that when the system has gone down, staff have resorted to using AtoZ maps to identify the nearest fire station to an incident.The system failures are putting lives at risk according to the Fire Brigades Union. No deaths are known to be attributable to the system. Capita says there have been 'very occasional problems.' London Fire Brigade says all the issues raised are being dealt with by the Brigade and Capita.

Prescriptions for antidepressants in England have gone up 7 per cent in the year to September 2016 according to figures seen by 5 live Investigates. 63 and a half million prescriptions were issued for the drugs - up four million on the year before and double the number a decade ago. The evidence shows that users are taking them for longer too. One in four people is now using them for 15 months. 20 years ago that was just eight months. There are also concerns that people are having to wait longer to access 'talking therapies' which can be used as well as or instead of antidepressants. The Department of Health says there's no evidence to suggest the rise in use of antidepressant medicines is linked to waiting times in talking therapies.They say they're exceeding the waiting times standard for this kind of treatment with almost 90% of people seen within 6 weeks.

The NSPCC is calling for an investigation into doorstep charity bag collections after evidence emerged that rogue operators are routinely flouting the law. Millions of pounds are raised each year for charity by private companies who post plastic bags through householders' doors and take away donated items. But 5 Live Investigates has discovered that some firms are illegally collecting without a licence. Others hand over only a fraction of the money they generate - sometimes less than 10 per cent. The Fundraising Regulator says it is looking at tightening up regulations in the sector.

Delays in social care assessments are contributing to a bed blocking crisis in our hospitals. The delays are also contributing to a crisis in the community where people with urgent social care needs aren't being seen according to the watchdog Healthwatch.

Referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) from the sport and recreation sector have increased nearly four-fold in the last four years. In 2012-2013, the number of referrals was 88. In 2015-2016, they had risen to 339 - up 285 per cent. The DBS was unable to say how many of the referrals led to people working in sport and recreation being barred from working with children. A spokesman for the DBS said the protection of children and vulnerable groups was of paramount importance. The figures were released following a BBC Radio 5 live Investigates Freedom of Information request to the DBS after hundreds of victims came forward last year to allege historical abuse in football.

Figures obtained by 5 live Investigates show that the number of ambulance call-outs to prisons in England has increased by nearly 40 per cent in the last three years - with an ambulance being called on average every 45 minutes. 2016 saw the worst disorder in British prisons for two decades. Critics blame overcrowding and staff cuts for an increase in violence between inmates, drug overdoses and suicide attempts. That's leading to more 999 calls - and increased demand for ambulances to ferry sick and injured offenders - and prison officers - to hospital. Justice Secretary Liz Truss has promised to spend £1.4 billion on new prisons and says she'll provide an extra 2,000 prison officers.

Simon Rickards says he will die if he doesn't get treatment for anorexia. He's been on an urgent referral list for an in-patient bed for nearly ten weeks. He says specialist hospital care could save his life. He contacted 5 live Investigates when the programme told the story of 19-year-old Fiona Hollings who is having to be treated for an eating disorder in Glasgow - 400 miles from her family home. She's one of many who've been left isolated from friends and family because of an acute shortage of beds. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder - and after exposing the huge problems women face getting the help they need to combat eating disorders, the programme reveals that men have an even tougher battle.

Fire brigade response times in many parts of England and Wales are getting slower according to data obtained by 5 live Investigates through a Freedom of Information request. Critics say that a reduction in the number of firefighters, appliances and fire stations are now putting lives at risk. Deborah Gibbons says her father Bernard Lewis, 82, may have still been alive a second appliance had reached their burning cottage on the the Wirral on Merseyside sooner.

A dangerous paedophile was allowed to re-offend because of a backlog in police investigating digital evidence. 38-year old Andrew Williams, a research assistant at Sheffield University, targeted a 13 year old girl and groomed her online. He never met her - but the girl's mother reported her fears to Greater Manchester Police. But it took them 10 months to investigate the teenager's laptop and mobile phone - and when they finally did, they said they couldn't get the phone to work and dropped the case for lack of evidence. It was only when 5 live Investigates got involved that the investigation was re-opened. However, the delays meant he was free to befriend another under-age girl on the internet who he went on to groom and abuse.

Fiona Hollings is 19 years old. She suffers from anorexia and needs treatment in a specialist unit. But because no beds were available near her home in Buckinghamshire, her family have to travel to Glasgow to see her in a private clinic. In the last four months parents Stephen and Julia Hollings have travelled more than 8,000 miles and spent more than £3,000 on hire cars, air fares and accommodation.

Doctors have told 5 live Investigates that the need for places to treat illnesses like anorexia and bulimia is massively outstripping supply. And the programme has also discovered that the number of deaths from eating disorders in England and Wales has risen by 65 per cent since 2014.

Hundreds of NHS patients and staff have been referred to the government's controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent.

Since July last year public sector employees like social workers, teachers and NHS staff - have been required to identify those individuals deemed at risk of being drawn into terrorism. 5 live Investigates can reveal for the first time that 420 NHS staff and patients have been referred to Prevent since the new rules came in. That's up from just 64 referrals the year before. Critics say the Prevent strategy has made public sector workers over-zealous and innocent people are being caught up in a climate of suspicion. Not only that, but there may be people with genuine mental health problems who are being deterred from seeking help because they're worried they'll be reported.

Families tell 5 live Investigates about the daily difficulties they face living in homes which aren't suitable for their needs. More than 300,000 people with disabilities aren't able to live their lives to full, hampered by stairways, inaccessible bathrooms, and in one case the simple lack of a ramp which means one elderly woman hasn't been able to leave her house for two years.

And why has almost £60 million been paid out in compensation by UK police forces in the last two years?

Umpires in amateur cricket are giving up the game because of an increase in verbal and physical abuse from players and outbreaks of violence on the pitch. 5 live Investigates reveals that half of all umpires who took part in a survey say they have been verbally abused and 40 per cent are thinking of giving up the game altogether. One umpire says he's been spat at and is verbally abused in every game. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Marleybone Cricket Club (MCC) - the guardians of the sport - say this kind of behaviour threatens the very future of the game.

5 live Investigates reveals startling new figures on the number of strip searches carried out by police. The Metropolitan Police alone carried out more than 76 thousand strip searches in the last three years - that's one every 20 minutes. Among them were 4,000 children.The programme has uncovered cases across England and Wales where searches appear unjustified, rules for children haven't been followed and even apparently racially motivated searches. The Home Office is now looking at whether extra safeguards are needed because it says many police forces don't have sufficient records to show if they're being carried out fairly or adequately supervised. Yvette Cooper MP, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, says the figures are worrying and police need to demonstrate whether so many searches are justified. Only 13 of the 45 forces in the UK we contacted could tell us how many strip searches they'd carried out.

The British Medical Association has told 5 live Investigates it wants urgent action to tackle prescription drug addiction. It's calling for a 24 hour helpline, specialist treatment services across the UK and more information for doctors about withdrawal. The drugs include Benzodiazepines which are generally prescribed for severe anxiety and insomnia. 10 million prescriptions for them were issued in England alone last year and there are estimates that more than a quarter of million people are using the drugs long term - even though in most cases they should only be prescribed for up to four weeks. 5 live Investigates has spoken to people who have been using the drugs for decades.

5 live Investigates reveals an unlicensed and unproven medicine is being illegally sold as a possible cure for cancer. A year-long investigation finds that desperate patients - some of them terminally ill - are being offered a blood product called GcMAF costing hundreds of pounds. It's being sold on the high street in Bournemouth. However, Professor Peter Johnson of Cancer Research UK said: "I have great concerns about people offering completely unproven treatments in return for money. It seems to me to be a very dubious practice.' The MHRA, the government's medicines regulator, says it is now investigating.

Debts run up by 113 academy trusts in England amount to almost £25m according to figures obtained by 5 live Investigates. Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee says the numbers raise "serious concerns about the accountability" of the system. More than half of England's secondary schools are run by self-governing academy trusts. The government says financial oversight of academies is "more robust than in council-run schools".

5 live Investigates reveals that some online pharmacies are selling antibiotics against guidelines laid down by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. It comes at a time when doctors are being encouraged to cut the number of antibiotics they prescribe because of real concerns we're breeding antibiotic resistance. The GMC has launched an investigation based on the programme's findings and Lord Jim O'Neill who carried out an investigation into Antimicrobrial Resistance, has described the revelations as 'disturbing.'.

5 live Investigates reports on claims that thousands of women and girls with mental health problems are being routinely failed by the NHS - sometimes with tragic consequences. Marjorie Wallace - chief executive of the mental health charity Sane - has called the situation 'the UK's hidden national emergency.' The charity Agenda - an alliance of more than 60 organisations representing women and girls at risk - submitted a Freedom of Information request to 57 NHS mental health trusts in England. But of the 35 trusts which responded, only one had a specific women's mental health strategy. Not only that, but more than half had no policy of routinely asking patients if they'd been abused - and that goes against best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The Department of Health said: "It is vital that all mental health care, particularly when abuse is involved, takes account of gender. Clinical guidelines are clear on this and the NHS has recently published its strategy for mental health - equality is central to this and we expect this to lead to rapid improvement across all care.".

The plane passengers putting lives in danger and costing airlines hundreds of thousands of pounds with their unruly behaviour. 5 live Investigates has been given exclusive figures which show more than a four-fold increase in the number of incidents being reported to the UK authorities over the last three years with drink and drug-fuelled disorder now being reported on a daily basis. In 2013 the Civil Aviation Authority received just 85 reports of passengers behaving badly - last year there were 386 incidents.

Critics have attacked the Government's hate crime action plan following Brexit. Former Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer says it isn't fit for purpose. Meanhwhile 5 live Investigates reveals the wave of racially and religiously motivated attacks have returned to more 'predictable' levels for the first time since the Brexit vote. True Vision, the joint police and Home Office hate-crime reporting portal, recorded levels of hate crime over the past three weeks similar to the figures seen at the end of last summer. However, concerns still remain that prosecutions of hate crime are failing to keep pace with steep rises in reports of hate crime over the past two years. And three Asian women from three cities in England and Wales reveal what it's like to live in post Brexit Britain.

The cage fighters jeopardising their health by rapidly losing weight in the run up to a fight. They risk kidney damage - and an increased chance of brain injury. Also - the military families paying more for living in married quarters at a time when repairs and maintenance are not being carried out properly.

Food hygiene inspections in the UK have fallen by 15% since 2003, research shows - with experts warning of risks to public health. Freedom of information requests to the Food Standards Agency, show almost 47,000 fewer inspections were carried out in 2014 than in 2003. Some premises went ten years without a visit.

An investigation by BBC 5 Live has revealed that 239 unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children went missing from care in England and Wales in 2015, leading to speculation that some were under the control of organised trafficking gangs. Many of the kids disappeared after being smuggled into the UK. Experts say the trafficking gangs have a detailed knowledge of how the care system works and they instruct their victims what to do if they are discovered and placed with foster parents or in a reception centre. It is believed that some of the young people will end up being trafficked to cannabis farms, the sex industry or sweatshops.

With demand for emergency care on the rise, can the ambulance service cope? A rise in serious untoward incidents, some of which affect patient safety suggests the service is under strain. And new figures show the proportion of ambulance staff taking stress leave continues to rise. How are ambulance trusts responding to the growing pressure? And, some home owners who bought council flats under the right to buy scheme say they are facing unexpected maintenance bills running into thousands of pounds.

Councils have spent nearly £1/4 billion over the past 5 years on settlement agreements with staff leaving their jobs. Many of the legally-binding agreements contain gagging clauses, preventing former employees from speaking out about poor performance or bad management. Also - the allegations that women at an anti-fracking protest were grabbed and groped inappropriately by police - a claim denied by the force concerned. But the demonstrators say it was technique that was designed to intimidate them.

Two teachers a day are calling a government hotline about fears that children might be turning to extremism - but what happens when those concerns aren't justified? New laws introduced last summer placed a duty on teachers to take safeguarding action if they believe a pupil is in danger of becoming radicalised. But are some over-reacting and putting community relations at risk?

As care home owners are squeezed by falling fees, rising wages and tougher regulations some are deciding to call it a day. What will that mean for families seeking to find a place for their elderly relative.

And - we examine the increase in the number of fraudulent companies cold-calling timeshare owners. Are people who are keen to find a way out of their long-term timeshare agreements becoming more vulnerable to scammers?

New figures relating to 'abuse of powers for sexual gain', suggest some police officers target vulnerable victims of crime in order to sexually exploit them.

In some cases the victims were women who had turned to the police for help with domestic abuse, or even rape. Are police forces doing enough to spot and stop repeated sexual misconduct by rogue officers?

And - the driving instructors offering lessons without being properly authorised. One customer paid out hundreds of pounds to an unqualified instructor. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency reveal new figures about the extent of the problem.

New figures reveal levels of disorder in Young Offenders Institutions. The programme hears from the brother of a young offender about conditions inside and also from the Prison Officers Association which is concerned about growing levels of violence.

And the UK internet traders who claim that they are being put out of business by foreign rivals who can evade paying VAT. Is the taxman doing enough?