The BBC was reportedly informed in 2018 that Scott Mills had been questioned by police over historical sexual offence allegations, yet kept the presenter on air at the time. The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in 2016 into claims of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000.
Mills, 53, was questioned under caution in July 2018. According to The Sun, he denied the allegations and informed the BBC. Corporation bosses decided not to take the then Radio 1 presenter off air, and the case was closed in May 2019 after the Crown Prosecution Service advised the evidential threshold for charges was not met.
The Met Police said it closed the investigation following advice from the CPS that “the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges”. Hampshire Police noted the allegations were first reported by a third party in 2016, and details were passed to the Met.
The BBC terminated Mills’s contract on Monday, days after taking him off air. The Mirror reported the sacking followed new claims relating to the same complainant, different from the original allegations. Mills last hosted Radio 2’s Breakfast Show on March 24.
Colleagues reacted with shock, with Jeremy Vine comparing the case to the BBC’s handling of Huw Edwards. The corporation apologised for not following up a separate allegation of “inappropriate communications” raised by a journalist last year. Children’s cancer charity Neuroblastoma UK has also parted ways with Mills, who had been a patron since 2021.
