The inquest into the death of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko could be scrapped and replaced with a public inquiry to allow evidence to be heard in secret.
Coroner Sir Robert Owen published a ruling yesterday, which revealed that he cannot hear evidence on the preventability of Mr Litvinenko's death or linked to the alleged involvement of the Russian state in public.
Alex Goldfarb, a friend of the Litvinenko family and his widow Marina, said the decision was "deeply dismaying", and it was "upsetting" that in his view the British Government had prioritised its political relationship with Russia over the need to hold an open inquest.
Mr Litvinenko, 43, was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 while drinking tea at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square in 2006. His family believes he was working for MI6 and killed on the orders of the Kremlin.
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