On 22 July 2014 the Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, announced the Government’s decision to establish an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 to investigate the death of Alexander Litvinenko on 23 November 2006. The inquiry was formally set up on 31 July 2014.

Sir Robert Owen, having acted as Assistant Coroner responsible for conducting the inquest into Mr Litvinenko’s death, was appointed to chair the inquiry. Sir Robert, who retired as a High Court judge on 19 September 2014, suspended the inquest and opened the inquiry having been asked to do so by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in accordance with paragraph 3 of schedule 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. In his opening address, on 31 July 2014, Sir Robert set out the chronology of events leading to the decision to hold the inquiry, starting with the opening of an inquest into Mr Litvinenko’s death on 30 November 2006.

Public hearings took place in court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London between 27 January and 30 March 2015; the hearings recommenced on 24 July and finished on 31 July 2015. The public and closed hearings into the death of Alexander Litvinenko have been completed. The Chairman delivered his Report to the Home Secretary on 19 January and it was published on 21 January 2016.