A woman has made historic allegations of sexual harassment at the hands of a larger than life BBC personality.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, worked alongside BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans during his stint at Channel 4 in the 1990s. During the two years of their association, the woman alleges that Evans would regularly "flash his genitals", "touch himself" and on one occasion committed sexual assault by grabbing her breasts.
The alleged victim made her complaint in an email to the BBC Director General, Tony Hall. The Sun has printed excerpts of the email as follows:
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Dear Lord Hall,
I am writing to you regarding the BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans.
As you and your senior BBC colleagues will know following extensive newspaper coverage last year, Mr Evans was questioned by police in 2016 about an allegation of sexual abuse dating back to the 1990s.
I was the person who made the complaint.
Mr Evans exposed himself to me daily. Often, he would walk in naked following his morning ritual of taking a bath... and sometimes touch himself. On one occasion, he grabbed my breasts. After I rejected his sexual advances and turned down his offer to have an affair - he was married to Carol McGiffin at the time - his attitude towards me changed and he stepped up his bullying. He actively turned other crew members against me and I became very isolated. I went from loving my job to feeling dread every morning I went to work.
It cannot be right that the BBC is happy to employ anybody in any position, let alone a high profile one, who has behaved in this way.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours
[Name Redacted]
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According to The Sun, the BBC's Director of Quality, Risk and Assurance, Balram Veliath, issued a response to the woman on behalf of Lord Hall. The gist of his response was that the allegations relate to Evans' conduct prior to his employment with the BBC and subsequently the BBC has no involvement.
A BBC spokesman reiterated that stance, saying: "We take these issues very seriously and are committed to dealing with matters responsibly and fairly when they are raised with us. We wouldn’t comment on individuals but the matters raised do not relate to a BBC programme and date back more than 20 years, and press reports in 2016 stated that the police investigated - including interviewing under caution - and concluded that there was insufficient evidence.
"For these reasons we do not think that the BBC could have relevant information relating to the allegations made. If an individual has information that might change the police’s judgement, then that would be a matter to raise directly with them."
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, an outspoken critic of the BBC, slammed the Corporation for apparently "sweeping these very serious allegations under the carpet" at a time when it is supposedly "whiter than white" in the wake of the Savile and Hall sexual abuse scandals.
Stay tuned for further updates, as this story is set to run for a while.
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