Courage is her middle name.

I've always championed strong women. Their politics don't concern me but their courage does. So I have enormous respect for Alexander Litvenenko's widow, Marina, for continuing to say what she believes.

Last October I attended a literary evening in Southport, Lancashire, where Mrs Litvenenko gave a humbly moving speech about her late husband, a former Russian Federal Security Service officer who was killed in November 2006.

She was joined by Alex Goldfarb,  a close friend and  co- author of the book Death of a Dissident (pictured below.)

 Mr and Mrs Litvinenko and her late husband became British citizens more than eight years ago just weeks before Alexander, (whom Marina calls Sasha,) was allegedly poisoned.

Small of stature, this amazing lady has the emotional strength of someone twice her size, along with a stoic belief that she must never give up the fight.

At the time she told the Southport Visitor “I am coming to this event to help the fundraising for the Litvinenko Justice Foundation so that we can pay for the legal costs of the public inquiry of the death of my husband.
“I believe that it is in the public interest to find out what happened to my husband. I can not bring the people who poisoned him to court because they are in Russia, but I can try to find out how he was killed. '

It was here in England that Litvinenko wrote two books accusing the Russian government of committing acts of terrorism against their own people.

Mrs Litvinenko said: “I am grateful that I am here, in England, where I can speak out like this.
“People should be proud that they are from a country that allows you to speak out. It was a very special day for me and Alexander when we became British citizens.

She added I would of course go back to Russia if it was something serious, but right now it is so unpleasant, I do not want to go back.'

The  event was organised by  Southport  lawyer John Boydell.

.