BBC Apologizes for Overlooking Separate Allegations Against Scott Mills Last Year
The BBC has issued an apology for failing to investigate separate allegations against radio presenter Scott Mills, who was dismissed amid historical sexual misconduct claims.
Freelance journalist Anna Brees contacted the BBC in May 2025 about alleged “inappropriate communications” involving Mills. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Brees inquired whether there had ever been “formal or informal complaints” regarding Mills related to safeguarding, inappropriate conduct, or harassment, but did not receive a response.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the BBC acknowledged the oversight: “We received a press query in 2025 which included limited information. This should have been followed up, and we should have asked further questions. We apologize for this and will look into why this did not happen. More broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.”
Brees, who has anchored news shows for both the BBC and ITV, has faced criticism for her support of Alex Belfield, convicted in September 2022 for stalking TV presenters, including Jeremy Vine. Following Belfield’s conviction, she referred to him as a “friend.”
While the BBC has not disclosed the reasons for Mills’s termination, it has come to light that he was questioned by police in 2018 regarding serious sexual offences against a minor under the age of 16. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that in December 2016, an investigation was launched into “allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy” that reportedly occurred between 1997 and 2000. The individual under investigation at that time, who was in his 40s during the police interview in July 2018, was released following the conclusion that the evidential threshold to bring charges had not been met. The investigation was subsequently closed in May 2019.
Mills’s dismissal has prompted public scrutiny regarding the proportionality of the BBC’s decision. Richard Bacon, a former BBC radio presenter and creator of the ABC gameshow The Hustler, commented, “This is a giant public humiliation. It’s a dangerous thing to do unless there’s a really, really clear reason. I guess we don’t know right now. But it needs to be an incontrovertible really big reason. It’s hard to believe he’s a bad person.”
