Stuart Hall, the BBC and a duty of care

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It has become increasingly obvious that BBC managers turned a blind eye to Hall's predatory behaviour for two decades

As more and more sordid details emerge of how Stuart Hall used his celebrity status to lure girls and young women into his clutches, it’s increasingly obvious that BBC managers turned a blind eye to his predatory behaviour for two decades.

We now know that Hall abused teenagers in dressing rooms, recording studios, and even a sick bay on BBC premises.

Staff have come forward to say his conduct was common knowledge around the BBC, but managers were afraid to intervene because he was such a massive star. The parallels with Jimmy Savile are positively chilling.

This weekend there were further claims that Corporation staff helped procure some girls, stood by as he molested them, and even filmed Hall’s sexual encounters.

So why won’t the BBC hold a proper investigation into these squalid events? 

Hall’s victims, whose lives have been cruelly blighted by their experiences, rightly demand a full inquiry, but the BBC refuses, saying merely that it will include any relevant information on Hall in the ongoing review of the Savile affair.

  More... Arrested suspects MUST be named says ex-Met chief: Secrecy in the wake of Leveson is not in interest of justice, says Lord Blair BBC may pay compensation to Stuart Hall's victims but there will be no second inquiry, says Chairman Lord Patten A sordid pool party, disgusted colleagues... and how disgraced Stuart Hall boasted of bedding 100 women during one series of It's A Knockout

This is simply not good enough. The Corporation manifestly failed in its duty of care to these girls and must now make amends. Only a separate, focused inquiry will uncover the full scale of the scandal, who else was involved, and why it was allowed to go unchecked for 20 years.

As well as doing right by the victims, this would enable the BBC to establish where it went wrong and prevent anything like it happening again.

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Must do better

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