Charity ‘tried to shut down’ sex scandal

ONE of the UK’S biggest charities has been accused of spending £100,000 on lawyers to try to “shut down” media reporting of sexual harassment cases involving its senior staff.

Sir Alan Parker, a former chairman of Save the Children, was questioned by MPS on the international development select committee about the handling of investigations into claims against former senior executives Justin Forsyth and Brendan Cox.

The Charity Commission is investigating the handling of cases in 2012 and 2015 and the organisation has stopped bidding for funds from the Department for International Development pending the outcome of the inquiry.

Sir Alan, the founder of City PR firm Brunswick, was asked why Save the Children had hired the City law firm Harbottle & Lewis to send “aggressive” letters to media organisations.

Pauline Latham, a senior Conservative on the committee, asked Sir Alan why money donated by the public had been paid to the lawyers. She said: “You possibly spent £100,000 on this to shut the story down, the media felt under pressure to shut the story down.”

Sir Alan said lawyers had been necessary because the trustees felt “a duty to protect” the charity’s reputation.

He told MPS: “If [the story] is wrongly reported, misreported and repeated, this can be terribly damaging and ultimately it can take away real money from the children who need it most.”

The MPS have asked Save the Children to provide the accurate legal bill in writing. Sir Alan resigned as chairman of the charity’s international arm last month.

The committee heard that Save The Children did not mention concerns over Mr Forsyth’s behaviour towards women when it was approached by a headhunter over a role with Unicef. Mr Forsyth quit that job this year to avoid causing damage to overseas aid.

Mr Cox, widower of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, resigned in 2015 while under investigation over sexual harassment allegations. He denies wrongdoing but has said he “made mistakes” at the charity, and has left two organisations set up in his wife’s memory.