Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be investigated over the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior Saudi officials were responsible, a UN report has concluded.

After a six-month probe, Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said in the report that Khashoggi was the “victim of a deliberate, premeditated execution, an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under international human rights law”.

Ms Callamard said the UN inquiry into Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist who had lived in self-imposed exile in the US, had shown “sufficient credible evidence regarding the responsibility of the crown prince demanding further investigation”.