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BBC apologises for not doing enough to protect female employees from abuse by presenter
BBC admitted it did not act adequately before 2019 to protect the four female employees and has since improved its support for staff facing online abuse.
Admitting that the company did not do enough to help its four employees when they alleged stalking and abuse, the BBC has issued a “full and unreserved” apology.
Alex Belfield, a former presenter at the BBC Radio Leeds, was jailed in September 2022 on four stalking charges against broadcasters, including Channel 5 host and BBC Radio 2 DJ Jeremy Vine. However, the company admitted that it failed to take enough action when four female employees also suffered abuse at Belfield’s hands.
“People who work for the BBC are often in the public eye and under scrutiny however, it is unacceptable for anyone to be the target of sustained abuse in the way that Rozina Breen, Elizabeth Green, Stephanie Hirst and Helen Thomas were over a number of years,” BBC said in a statement.
“The BBC cares deeply about the welfare of its staff and we recognise that before 2019 we simply didn’t do enough for these members of staff in understanding the full impact that Alex Belfield’s unacceptable behaviour had on them. For that we are deeply sorry and offer a full and unreserved apology,” it added.
Clarifying that the company is now better equipped to handle such complaints and expressing how difficult it can be to be subject to online abuse, BBC said, “Abuse - particularly on social media - presents lots of challenges for employers and we all need to keep learning and implement the best practice on how we can support our staff. That’s why the BBC has an online abuse guidance and reporting tool - which today provides all staff with information and support on how to address and combat online abuse. The BBC has also expanded its mental wellbeing resources and strengthened our internal investigative capabilities. We are significantly better equipped to manage these issues now and in the future, but we will never be complacent.”
After the four women - BBC's former head of north Ms Breen, ex-Radio Leeds presenters Green and Hirst, and the director of BBC England Thomas - complained against Belfield, he was found not guilty following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court, says a report by the BBC. However, the judge had issued indefinite restraining orders against Benfield, stopping him from contacting them.
"Each of them suffered a campaign of harassment by email and social media communications. Each of them suffered serious mental health problems arising from Mr Belfield's conduct," BBC quoted Justice Saini as saying during the trial.
What Jeremy Vine said
Later, in 2022, Belfield was convicted of stalking a BBC Radio presenter, Bernard Spedding and videographer, Ben Hewis. He was also convicted of “simple” stalking against Vine and theatre blogger Philip Dehany, the BBC report said.
However, Vine had described the experience as “absolutely Olympic-level stalking, even for broadcasting."
After the BBC issued the apology, Vine said that it was right for the company to apologise “for its early responses when women at BBC Leeds were targeted by the criminal stalker Alex Belfield.” He also said that the women were asked to “ignore and delete” thousands of abusive emails, resulting in losing incriminating material, which could have added to Belfield’s five-and-a-half-year sentence.
“The BBC began to take the case seriously only when Tony Hall and Tim Davie took charge. I hope this statement from the BBC (and any compensation) helps these four survivors put this awful case behind them,” Vine said.
