A Saudi prince who negotiated a £40bn arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia received secret payments for over a decade, a BBC probe has found.

The UK's biggest arms dealer, BAE Systems, paid hundreds of millions of pounds to the ex-Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

The payments were made with the full knowledge of the Ministry of Defense.

Prince Bandar would not comment on the investigation and BAE Systems said it acted lawfully at all times.

The MoD said information about the Al Yamamah deal was confidential.

Private plane

Up to £120m a year was sent by BAE from the UK into two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington.