Shamima Begum: The Blame Game

Episode 1: The Disappearance

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Episode notes

In February 2015, 15 year old Shamima Begum left the UK with two of her school friends. They were travelling from the UK to Syria to join the ISIS Caliphate.

In the first few hours of the investigation, the girls seem to be on their way to Turkey. Their families and the police aren’t yet ready to make a public appeal. Everyone wants them to come back without their names and faces being pictured all over the newspapers but at Gatwick Airport the CCTV cameras have captured a powerful piece of evidence. The girls have been filmed strolling through the terminal on their way to catch their flight.

As the timeline of their journey starts to unravel, ITV’s Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo revisits the headlines to ask why they left and ultimately, who is to blame?