Stuart Hall had 'Special Room' for 'Entertaining'

[Teddy Bear]

Stuart Hall had a room set aside at the BBC where he could entertain 'lady friends' while waiting to appear on screen, a former colleague claimed today.

Hall, 83, has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, the youngest aged nine.

The sex offences took place between 1967 and 1986.

Linda McDougall, who worked as a producer at BBC Manchester in late 1960s and 1970s, said he had an 'amazing set-up' at the BBC building at Piccadilly where the old medical room was reserved for his use.

She said today that the former presenter's activities were widely known about within the organisation.

We know the BBC mindset in this regard already from the Savile scandal, and shows for how long the BBC contempt of its responsibility for receipt of the licence fee has been going on.

BBC sex attacker Stuart Hall 'had special room set aside to entertain lady friends at Corporation's Manchester studios'

• Linda McDougall worked with Hall during the late 1960s and 1970s
  She claims an old medical room at the BBC building was reserved for his use
  
• Moz Dee, former managing editor of 5Live, said he never heard rumours
  
• BBC spokesman said the corporation will be contacting Lancashire Police

By Tara Brady

Stuart Hall had a room set aside at the BBC where he could entertain 'lady friends' while waiting to appear on screen, a former colleague claimed today.

Hall, 83, has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, the youngest aged nine.

The sex offences took place between 1967 and 1986.

Linda McDougall, who worked as a producer at BBC Manchester in late 1960s and 1970s, said he had an 'amazing set-up' at the BBC building at Piccadilly where the old medical room was reserved for his use.

She said today that the former presenter's activities were widely known about within the organisation.

But Moz Dee, managing editor of 5Live from 1999 to 2008, told the station this afternoon that he had heard no rumours about Hall, which had made today's revelations even more shocking for him.

The BBC said an ongoing search had so far uncovered no written record of complaints 'of a sexual nature' being made against the former It's A Knockout presenter.

But a spokeswoman said it would be contacting Lancashire Police to see if any offences had been carried out on its premises.

Ms McDougall told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that Hall occupied the medical room while they were rehearsing for Look North and 'he had lady friends who came and went happily on to the BBC premises and kept him occupied during the afternoons'.

'I can't say that he was having sex with them there because I wasn't ever in the medical room at the same time but I always thought that they weren't coming for cups of tea at the BBC in the afternoons,' she said.

'But of course everyone else knew. We all made jokes about it. You would have had to have your eyes shut and not been at work at all to not know what was going on.'

Ms McDougall, who is now a political writer, said she had found Hall 'a complete nuisance'.

'He was one of those people who had his hands all over you and all over anyone female who came in at any moment he can,' she said.

Despite his behaviour, she said they had remained on friendly terms and that she had been shocked to discover that his offences related to children.

'I am shocked, I am really shocked that there were children involved,' she said.

'When I found this out this morning I felt really sick and unhappy because I think what on earth was I doing working in a place where this sort of thing is going on.

Mr Dee said he was appalled at the behaviour of the 'revered' Hall but said he had heard no rumours.

'Many of us are truly, truly shocked at the scale of the offences, at the fact that he stood in open court and gave the performance of his life... in terms of this denial, only today to admit his guilt,' he told the Shelagh Fogarty show.

'When you hear news like that it just, it does knock you and knock your faith in human nature really. It is quite staggering.'

He added: 'People will be thinking to themselves today "Was there any clue? Should we have known? Is there anything we could have done?"

'The thing with Stuart Hall is there were no rumours, there didn't seem to be any clues or any suggestion at all that this type of behaviour from him was prevalent.'

A BBC spokeswoman said: 'According to searches carried out to date, we have uncovered no written record of complaints of a sexual nature being made against Stuart Hall, though our checks are ongoing.

'The police have not shared the details of where these offences took place but we will be discussing the matter with them as soon as possible to see if any further action needs to be taken by the BBC.'

[steevo]

Murdoch is really looking more like a saint in comparison

[Teddy Bear]

You can imagine how the full weight of moral scrutiny would have been levelled at Murdoch had his organisation been guilty of the same abuses. The BBC's way of demonizing Murdoch for only hacking phones of mostly those who were no saints themselves, while they try to push their own far more serious sins under the carpet, shows the pure lack of morality, ethics, and accountability inherent there.

Murdoch IS a saint by comparison.

[Teddy Bear]

Watch the BBC push these fresh allegations of institutional 'blindness', even if abuse is involved, under the carpet, and the spineless government do nothing to redress it under than make the right noises for a little while. Then the BBC director will tell everybody how 'lessons have been learned, trust has been restored' and back to (nasty) business as usual.

Stuart Hall case: 'Pattern at BBC of turning blind eye to abuse’
The BBC is embroiled in a fresh sex abuse scandal after veteran presenter Stuart Hall admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls as young as nine.

By Steven Swinford, and Sam Marsden

The former presenter of It’s A Knockout, 83, was described as an “opportunistic predator” after he pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1986.

Linda McDougall, a producer at BBC Manchester in the late Sixties and Seventies, said Hall was a “complete nuisance” who routinely put his hands “all over you and all over anyone female who came in”.

She said the presenter had a room set aside at the BBC where he could entertain “lady friends” and that “everyone knew” about his “amazing set up” and that the women were “not coming in for cups of tea”.

Angie Bray, a Conservative member of the culture, media and sport select committee, said that the BBC’s “indulgence” of Hall bore striking similarities to the corporation’s approach to Jimmy Savile.

“They have to look at this all over again,” she said. “Depressingly we see a pattern developing, Jimmy Savile is not just a one-off.

“How do they allow themselves to indulge these people? It is the worship of celebrity.”

Alan Collins, a solicitor who is representing Jimmy Savile child abuse victims, said: “The BBC has questions to answer, I would be concerned that this turning a blind eye is part of a pattern.

“These people are given a veneer of respectability that gives them the ability to get away with things.”

The BBC said that Ms McDougall’s allegations will either be passed to police or examined by the Dame Janet Smith review, which is investigating Savile’s abuse while he was working at the corporation.

All but four of the 14 offences took place between 1972 and 1982, when Hall was a household name.

One of his victims, who was picked to be a cheerleader on It’s A Knockout, on Thursday described how he pushed her against a wall and tried to force himself on her when she was 17. At the time, an episode of the programme was being filmed in the town where she lived.

Lancashire Police highlighted the fact that many of Hall’s victims only came forward after the broadcaster was publicly named and charged with three initial counts of indecent assault.

Their comments came amid increasing debate over whether police should name suspects.

Hall continued to work for the BBC as a regular contributor to Radio 5 Live until his arrest in December last year.

In 2005, the corporation defended the presenter after he told listeners that “your average 10-year-old” could give instructions in sexual acts, saying his comments were just “satirical banter”. Details of Hall’s offences emerged as a BBC report found that there have been 37 complaints of sexual assault in the past six years.

The report also found that there is a “strong undercurrent” of fear at the corporation with staff left terrified of bullying by “untouchable” senior managers and stars.

Hall, 83, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, had previously denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations against him were “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious”.

However, he entered guilty pleas at Preston Crown Court on April 16.

His pleas can only be reported now after reporting restrictions were lifted as he appeared at court again on Thursday.

The broadcaster’s barrister, Crispin Aylett, QC, told the court: “Through me he wishes to apologise to his victims.

“He is not a man easily moved to self-pity but he is only too aware his disgrace is complete.” Judge Anthony Russell, QC, ordered Hall to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register and warned him that all sentencing options remained open, including prison.

The maximum sentence is 10 years in jail.

The prosecutors said Hall befriended the girls before sexually assaulting them when they were alone together. One of the charges involved touching a nine-year-old girl under the duvet while reading her a story.

He also kissed a 13-year-old girl on the lips after he gave her a lift in his car, saying to her: “People need to show thanks in other ways.”

He was also accused of raping a 22-year-old woman but he disputed the charge and it was allowed to lie on file.

Hall, who has been married for 54 years and has two children, was a familiar face and voice in British broadcasting for half a century and was awarded an OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours list.

Lucy Adams, the BBC’s director of Human Resources mistakenly described his offences as “allegations”, but added that they had “shaken the BBC to the core”.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “According to searches carried out to date, we have uncovered no written record of complaints of a sexual nature being made against Stuart Hall, though our checks are ongoing.

“We are aware of a number of allegations that have been made in relation to Stuart Hall and where appropriate these are being passed on to the police or the Dame Janet Smith Review that is looking at the culture of the BBC during the Seventies and Eighties.”

[Teddy Bear]

This article in the Telegraph gives personal accounts of the abuse by Hall. and shows that some in the BBC not only 'turned a blind eye', but actually helped and enabled Hall to perpetrate his abuse.

Stuart Hall case: victims say they were abused at BBC
The BBC is facing calls to open an inquiry into Stuart Hall after his victims said they were groomed and sexually assaulted on its premises when they were schoolgirls.

By Steven Swinford

Two of his victims have come forward to say they were sexually abused by Hall in the 1960s and 1970s after he was hired for their school prizegivings.
Hall invited both girls to the BBC's Manchester headquarters after promising that he would help them with their careers. One victim said Hall plied her with "plenty of champagne" before raping her in his dressing room.

Another said Hall sexually assaulted her in his car after inviting her to a "mocked up" studio session at the corporation's Manchester studios.
Both said Hall was helped by his friends, amid growing concerns that other staff at BBC may have turned a blind eye to the abuse.

Angie Bray, a Conservative member of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: "They have to look at this all over again. Depressingly, we see a pattern developing. Jimmy Savile is not just a one-off."

The investigation into Hall's activities began after one of his victims wrote an anonymous letter to a columnist at The Independent newspaper.
She said that she had been groomed and sexually abused by Hall after meeting him at her school prize-giving in the 1970s, when he was a presenter on Look North, a local BBC news programme.

Hall told her headmaster he was "impressed" and thought she could have a "future in television journalism", inviting her back to the BBC's studios.
She said:"I was young for my years and easy meat for a man like him," the woman wrote. To have a man of my father's age take a benevolent interest in me seemed wonderful.

"Sadly the world is too full of girls (and boys) who are looking for love, and find out too late that they have found sex with a predator instead."
On her third visit to the corporation's studios, Hall took the teenager back to his dressing room and raped her. "I still can't bear champagne and the memory of his crepey skin makes me shudder," she wrote.

On another occasion Hall took her to the house of a friend of his. "Stuart giggled that [he] would be horrified if [he] knew how old I was," she said. "Apparently the friend complained later to Stuart about the state of the sheets, he had to change them quickly before his wife saw them."
Hall even gave her a prescription for contraceptive pills. "He took advantage of my youth, naiveties, loneliness and manipulated me into having sex," she said.

The woman decided to come forward after Hall was given an OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours list and because every time she saw that "oily, perma-tanned creature" on the television she had to leave the room.
"How do I tell my husband why I want to scream, vomit and throw a brick through the television screen," she asked.

The columnist at The Independent passed her letter on to the police, who later told her that he had not been "on their radar" but that they had opened a new inquiry. The former It's A Knockout presenter subsequently admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls as young as nine.

The second victim, Susan Harrison, told the Daily Mail that she met Hall when she was just 15 at her school prize giving. "Normally we just shook hands but Mr Hall was giving the girls a kiss, it was very embarrassing."
Susan then gave a performance and sang Blow The Wind Southerly. After her performance offered her the "opportunity of a lifetime" and said he would arrange a BBC studio recording for her.

She followed his advice and came to the BBC's Manchester headquarters in Piccadilly in 1967. When she arrived, however, the recording was anything but professional.

She was met by a man who claimed to be a sound recordist. "He didn't say anything to me, didn't introduce himself. I wasn't made to feel welcome at all. It was all very strange."

When Hall arrived he claimed the pianist had failed to turn up and returned with another man who "was not very happy". "You are going to owe me for this one," he told Hall.

The "recording" ended after 20 minutes, and Hall took Susan for drinks. After plying her with alcohol he took her home in his car and tried to relax her by making "light conversation" about his daughter, Francesca, who was seven at the time.

"All of a sudden he brought his left hand over my right leg and then moved his hand up my skirt and started touching me," she said. "I was shocked and terrified. It went on for a couple of minutes. But then I quickly moved to the left of the car and away from him."

She developed a "nervous cough", and Hall offered to "rub your chest with something". She left the car in tears when she got home, where her father was furios with Hall.

"My father was very angry and he came out to see if Mr Hall was still there but of course he had driven off. Afterwards my father said, 'he is famous and we are nobody and nobody is going to believe you'."

The victim's evidence emerged after Linda McDougall, a former producer at BBC Manchester in the 1960s and 1970s, said the presenter had room set aside at the BBC where he could entertain his "lady friends". She said "everyone knew" the women were not coming for "cups of tea".

The BBC said that the allegations will either be passed to police or examined by the Dame Janet Smith review, which is investigating abuse by Jimmy Savile while he was working at the corporation.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of a number of allegations that have been made in relation to Stuart Hall and where appropriate these are being passed on to the police or the Dame Janet Smith review."

[Teddy Bear]

I was going to comment today on the fact that again the head of BBC Trust Chris Patten denied any need to have another enquiry into just how Hall had been able to abuse girls on BBC property, and even apparently assisted by some of the staff..

Let's remember that Patten did exactly the same when the Savile scandal. and the subsequent BBC attempt to cover it up, became evident. He and Entwistle both said there would be no need for an enquiry until pressure was put on them by government.

Now again Patten has done a turn around and agreed for a separate enquiry. Bear in mind this man is supposed to represent the licence fee payers in monitoring all facets of BBC output. Instead he does his best to protect the BBC from fair criticism, to the increased cost to the public, in many respects.

If the enquiry runs anything like the Savile one, then it is unlikely that anything will really done by and to the BBC from our mostly spineless government. In my view, in his way Patten is just as vile and rotten as Savile and Hall, and so many of those within the BBC who scoff at their charter, as well as the laws of the land.

In the Rose report, investigating the behaviour of the BBC in light of Savile, she wrote the BBC had not been clear enough about the standard of behaviour that was expected from all staff including on-air ‘talent’.

I find this a strange ‘finding’.
Society already makes it pretty clear about what is and what is not acceptable behaviour, they are called laws, and they were broken.

Clearly Barrister Rose, the person who made the report, perceives that the BBC operates within its own world to make this assessment, and in reality this is what should be part of her finding, as well as showing the disgusting dynamics within this publicly funded organisation.

Now Chris Patten has done another turn around and agreed to a separate enquiry over the Hall affair. Good to see him having to eat craw again, not that I expect any enquiry to change any of the existing status quo, although we will be told that 'lessons have been learned' and 'time to move on'.

BBC U-turn over decision to hold new 'freestanding' inquiry into how 'predatory' Stuart Hall was allowed to abuse children

• Lord Patten, BBC Trust chairman, yesterday dismissed calls for an inquiry
  
• He said BBC would look into Hall's reign of abuse as part of the Dame Janet Smith review into the Jimmy Savile scandal
  
• But Corporation today confirmed it will hold a formal inquiry into Stuart Hall

By Sam Greenhill

The BBC has bowed to pressure to launch an inquiry into paedophile presenter Stuart Hall’s reign of child abuse.

Former staff said Hall’s sick behaviour was well known at the corporation, but until now the BBC has resisted a new inquiry.

Only on Sunday, BBC Trust Lord Patten ruled one out, dismissing calls from victims and MPs by saying it ‘would probably delay arriving at the truth’.
Stuart Hall was described as an 'opportunistic predator' at Preston Crown Court on Thursday

U-turn: The BBC has announced it will launch a formal inquiry into presenter Stuart Hall, pictured outside Preston Crown Court

He said the existing Dame Janet Smith review into the Jimmy Savile crisis would be widened to examine Hall’s two-decades abuse rampage.

But within 24 hours the corporation performed a dramatic U-turn by announcing a new ‘freestanding investigation’.

A spokesman said: ‘In light of a potential conflict of interest with Dame Janet Smith there will be a freestanding investigation covering Stuart Hall's conduct at the BBC which will feed into her Review.

‘This work will be led by a different individual appointed by the BBC.’

The ‘different individual’ who will lead the inquiry was not named by the BBC, leading to speculation the corporation has yet to find a suitable person willing to take on the task.

A spokeswoman said their identity would be revealed ‘in due course’.
Lord Patten told The Andrew Marr Show that a review in to the Jimmy Savile scandal would also include questions over how Stuart Hall was able to abuse his victims

Lord Patten told The Andrew Marr Show that a review in to the Jimmy Savile scandal would also include questions over how Stuart Hall was able to abuse his victims

Hall abused children as young as nine. He invited teenagers desperate for fame to his BBC dressing room and molested them, and also groped girls in recording studios and even in a sick bay on BBC premises. Some of the dressing room attacks were allegedly videoed by a floor manager known as ‘The Pimp’.

Lord Patten said it was clear there were people who had been willing to ‘turn a blind eye’ to the ‘thoroughly unpleasant’ behaviour of the It’s A Knockout presenter.

He said the BBC would be liable to pay compensation to his victims.

Hall has pleaded guilty to assaulting 13 girls between 1967 and 1986. In striking parallels to Savile, BBC managers were afraid to intervene because he was such a successful star.

However, unlike with Savile – who died in 2012 – 83-year-old Hall is still alive and may yet face further sex abuse charges.

Police have confirmed they are investigating claims made by more women who have come forward.

A BBC source said its inquiry would need to be careful not to interfere with any new police investigations.

It is understood corporation executives are in talks with senior officers to avoid a potential clash.

The BBC move will be welcomed by victims’ groups.

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood charity has said the BBC ‘gave Hall unfettered opportunities to carry out his abuse’, and said it owed them answers.

A former colleague of Hall’s, Linda McDougall, said BBC bosses must have known about his behaviour because he was ‘unable to talk to a woman without touching her'.

MP Rob Wilson said: ‘Once again the BBC Trust and Lord Patten look slow and reluctant to act. Only yesterday he said no new investigation, today it has changed.

‘I had hoped something would have been learned from the Savile debacle.

‘The important thing now is that we find out who knew about Stuart Hall and when they knew it. Was his behaviour reported internally and if so what action was taken? What exactly went wrong?’

As more revelations came to light, an extraordinary photograph emerged showing disgraced Hall posing with his friend Owen Oyston, the businessman jailed a decade ago for raping a 16-year-old model.

Coronation Street actor Bill Roache is also in the picture, taken at a corporate event, along with some women.

The three men were all company directors of some of Oyston’s business ventures in the North West, although he has now dropped Hall as a director, saying he is ‘unfit’ for the post.

Mr Roache was charged last week with twice raping a 15-year-old girl, an accusation he strenuously denies.

The investigation into Mr Roache is unconnected to the Hall case.

The BBC denied performing a U-turn.

A spokesman said: ‘It is not a U-turn or bowing to pressure, it is a slight realignment of the Dame Janet Smith Review.

‘Dame Janet has declared a conflict of interest because her husband’s first wife is married to one of the people who knew Stuart Hall.

‘So someone else will examine the Stuart Hall case and feed the findings into Dame Janet’s overall review. It is not a separate inquiry.’

Another BBC spokesman stressed: ‘This is not a U-turn. It is not a separate inquiry. It is just an extension of the Dame Janet Smith inquiry.

'I know it sounds like we are dancing on the head of a pin, but it is a freestanding inquiry that will be fed into the Dame Janet Smith Review.’