It has been reported that the BBC have paid out an eye-watering sum of close to £5 million in total on reviews in the wake of Huw Edwards and Tim Westwood’s scandals
The BBC has reportedly racked up an eye-watering bill of close to £5 million for a review in the wake of the Huw Edwards and Tim Westwood cases.
Disgraced BBC News presenter Edwards received a suspended prison sentence last year after he admitted charges of accessing indecent images of children, with one aged between seven and nine. He pleaded guilty to ‘making’ indecent images after they were sent to him on WhatsApp.
DJ Westwood has faced several allegations of misogyny, bullying and unwanted behaviour, but he has denied claims of inappropriate behaviour.
The Financial Times has now revealed that the BBC spent more than £1.3m on a “resulting review of its procedures” following what happened with Edwards
It obtained the figure via a Freedom of Information request.
External legal fees apparently made up £340,843 of the expenditure and another £70,000 was paid for “additional resources” from the BBC corporate investigations team.
A review of the effectiveness of its non-editorial complaints policies and processes – which was carried out by Deloitte – cost £958,133.
Meanwhile, a staggering £3.3mn was reportedly paid out over the Westwood scandal.
According to The Sun, a victim of Edwards – who used to be one of the BBC’s highest paid stars – accused the corporation of still not having any answers.
Edwards had contacted the TV producer in 2021 and he was then interviewed by the BBC as part of its investigation into what had happened 2023.
“How can they spend all that money and not have any answers for people like me?” the person was quoted as saying.
“I have not heard anything further about the findings of the BBC investigation and not even had a check-up call or anything.”
The victim claimed that they had been “left hanging in the wind with no conclusion”.
A BBC spokesperson told Daily Star: “Wherever possible we aim to resolve matters without external support, and the decision to commission any review or work by a third-party is taken with careful consideration, based on the specific circumstances in each case. We only incur external legal costs when absolutely necessary.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
