Blackburn: The BBC is hanging me out to dry

TONY Blackburn and the BBC rounded on each other yesterday in a bitter public dispute after the DJ was sacked over his testimony to the inquiry into sex abuse at the corporation.

BBC director-general Tony Hall accused Blackburn of not being completely open after he denied that he was questioned in 1971 about a 15-year-old Top of the Pops dancer who alleged he molested her.

But the 73-year-old Radio 2 presenter claimed he had been ‘hung out to dry’ and made a scapegoat, accusing the BBC of destroying his career for telling the truth.

He was backed by fellow broadcasters who accused the corporation of firing him to distract attention from the disturbing conclusions of Dame Janet Smith’s review of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Blackburn said in a statement: ‘They are destroying my career and reputation because my version of events does not tally with theirs.

‘Sadly, what is happening to me now seems entirely in keeping with the past BBC culture of whitewash and cover-up.’

He added: ‘What whistleblower at the BBC would ever come forward when they see the way they have hung me out to dry?

‘Sadly, today’s news agenda should have been about the survivors of abuse carried out within the BBC but, by sacking me, they have managed to take the focus off those who have suffered so much.

‘My lawyers are now considering all statements made by the BBC about me today and we will be taking action.’

The dispute concerned Blackburn’s evidence about Claire McAlpine, who once danced on Top of the Pops with Jimmy Savile.

She claimed in a 1971 diary entry that Blackburn had seduced her when he invited her back to his flat after a recording of the show.

The mother of the teenager, who killed herself soon afterwards, raised the alarm with the BBC after reading the account.

The complaint was reported to BBC executive Tony Preston, who was ‘sufficiently concerned’ to pass it on to the corporation’s legal department.

Blackburn was subsequently interviewed by the head of light entertainment at the time, Bill Cotton, and ‘flatly denied what had been alleged’, according to the review. But when questioned for the inquiry in 2013, Blackburn, who was identified only as ‘A7’ in the report, insisted he had not been interviewed in 1971.

His evidence was rejected by Dame Janet.

Lord Hall said: ‘ This one of the most important inquiries in the BBC’s history.

‘And that has put an even greater responsibility on everyone who took part in that inquiry to co-operate fully and to be open. As Dame Janet has said, she’s rejected his evidence, and she has explained very clearly why.

‘My interpretation of that is that Tony Blackburn fell short of the standards of evidence such an inquiry demanded.

‘I am making no judgment or accusations about events or behaviours about what happened in the past, but simply about what he’s done now and what he was doing in front of this really crucial inquiry.’

At a news conference, Dame Janet and Lord Hall declined to say they believed Blackburn lied in his evidence, despite being questioned about this repeatedly. Lord Hall also refused to say if BBC had paid Blackburn any compensation or severance pay, insisting it was a private matter between the DJ and the corporation.

In her report, Dame Janet criticises the BBC’s dismissal of complaints by Claire’s mother, Vera, after her daughter took her life.

‘The BBC’s internal investigation into Mrs McAlpine’s complaint does not appear to me to evince any sense of concerns about the safety and welfare of Claire or of girls like her,’ she says.

‘Rather, it appears to me to have been designed to protect and exonerate the BBC and to fob Mrs McAlpine off.’

Despite Blackburn’s sacking by the corporation, the Kent local radio station KMFM, where he has a Sunday afternoon show, has said it will stand by him.

Broadcaster Nina Myskow said the decision to sack the DJ was timed to distract attention from the findings on a ‘black day’ for the BBC and Lord Hall.

‘It should be a black day for the BBC because of the revelations about the whole Savile episode, but in fact that’s been buried very cleverly by the BBC, as usual, by sacking Tony Blackburn,’ she told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2.

‘A culture of cover-up’