{"id":377045,"date":"2026-04-01T20:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/377045\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:39:09","slug":"scott-mills-says-he-has-been-subject-to-rumour-and-speculation-since-sacking-by-bbc-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/377045\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Mills says he has been subject to \u2018rumour and speculation\u2019 since sacking by BBC \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott Mills has said he has been subject to \u201crumour and speculation\u201d since the BBC<\/a> announced his sacking earlier this week.<\/p>\n

In his first public statement since the news broke, the former Radio 2 breakfast host said he \u201cco-operated fully\u201d with the police investigation into allegations of a historical sexual offence.<\/p>\n

In a statement released through his lawyers, he said: \u201cThe recent announcement that I am no longer contracted to the BBC has led to the publication of rumour and speculation. In response to this the Metropolitan Police<\/a> has made a statement, which I confirm relates to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn allegation was made against me in 2016 of a historic sexual offence which was the subject of a police investigation in which I fully co-operated and responded to in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the police have stated, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which determined that the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed 7 years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have reached out to me with kindness, my former colleagues, and my beloved listeners, who I greatly miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC has confirmed it knew about the police investigation into Mills in 2017, but said it \u201cacted decisively\u201d after receiving \u201cnew information\u201d in the weeks prior to his sacking.<\/p>\n

\"MillsMills with Zoe Ball in 2024. He took over presenting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show from Ball. Photograph: James Manning\/PA Wire<\/p>\n

The corporation revealed it terminated the BBC Radio 2 presenter\u2019s contracts on Friday, just days after taking him off air, following new information it received in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the BBC has apologised for its response after allegations about Scott Mills were raised with the broadcaster last year.<\/p>\n

Mills was sacked with immediate effect by the BBC on Monday over his \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d. It then emerged he had been questioned over separate allegations of serious sexual offences against a boy aged under 16 in 2018, but the case was later closed due to lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph reported on Tuesday evening that a freelance journalist had contacted the corporation in May 2025 to say she had received information about separate allegations of \u201cinappropriate communications\u201d involving the presenter and asked whether the broadcaster was \u201cever aware of or involved in any related matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

The journalist also asked whether it had ever received any \u201cformal or informal complaints\u201d about Mills \u201crelating to safeguarding, inappropriate conduct or harassment\u201d and whether it had ever conducted an internal investigation into him, but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n

A BBC spokesperson said: \u201cWe received a press query in 2025 which included limited information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions. We apologise for this and will look into why this did not happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC said he was sacked due to allegations related to \u201cpersonal conduct\u201d, while the Mirror newspaper, which broke the story, reported that the allegations concerned a historical relationship.<\/p>\n

Late on Monday, the Mirror reported that Mill\u2019s sacking related to a police investigation in 2016 into alleged serious sexual offences against a teenage boy that was dropped due to a lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: \u201cIn December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force. The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were reported to have taken place between 1997 and 2000. As part of these inquiries, a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview was questioned by police under caution in July 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cA full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Met confirmed separately that the boy was under 16 and the force that referred the original complaint was Hampshire constabulary.<\/p>\n

After the sacking was announced, the broadcaster said in a statement: \u201cWhile we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills (53) is from Southampton and started his radio career in the county.<\/p>\n

Mills took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in January 2025. Under his stewardship, the show\u2019s audience increased to 6.5 million listeners, making it the UK\u2019s most popular breakfast show.<\/p>\n

He had joined the station\u2019s weekday schedule in 2022 when he replaced Steve Wright as the host of the afternoon slot, having previously worked on Radio 1 and hosted a weekend show on Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n

His dismissal is the latest crisis to hit the BBC over the alleged behaviour of one of its leading figures. The broadcaster has repeatedly said it is trying to create a culture where no one is unaccountable, after allegations against prominent presenters such as Huw Edwards and Tim Westwood.<\/p>\n

The departure took place in Tim Davie\u2019s last week as the BBC\u2019s director general. He announced his resignation at the end of last year after a series of crises, including over the conduct of some BBC presenters. \u2013 PA\/The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Mills has said he has been subject to \u201crumour and speculation\u201d since the BBC announced his sacking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1578,42,6238,43,40,38,41,39,303],"class_list":{"0":"post-377045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-metropolitan-police","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}