BBC says it knew of Scott Mills allegations in 2017

The BBC says it knew in 2017 that Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills was under police investigation over historical sexual abuse allegations, but only terminated his contracts last week after receiving “new information,” according to The Guardian. Mills, 53, said in a statement that an allegation was made in 2016, that he cooperated with police, and that prosecutors later concluded the evidential threshold for charges had not been met.

The Metropolitan Police said the alleged offences related to a boy under 16 and were said to have occurred between 1997 and 2000. Mills was interviewed under caution in 2018, and a file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided not to charge; the investigation was closed in May 2019. Until last week, Mills hosted Radio 2’s breakfast show, which The Guardian reports has an audience of about 6.5 million.

The BBC’s timeline matters because it shows how large media organisations now treat reputational exposure as a rolling risk rather than a discrete event. The corporation’s statement does not specify what the “new information” was, but frames the dismissal as an action “in line with our culture and values,” language that has become standard after a series of scandals and culture reviews. The practical effect is that employment outcomes can hinge on internal assessments that sit alongside—rather than follow—criminal thresholds.

That structure creates a predictable asymmetry. Police and prosecutors operate with evidential tests designed for court; employers operate with brand and trust calculations that are rarely disclosed. When a broadcaster says it must be “mindful of the rights of those involved” while also acting “decisively,” it is describing a process where the public is asked to accept a decision without being told the basis for it.

The BBC also says it is doing more work to understand what was known internally at the time. That points to a second layer of institutional self-protection: when a controversy breaks, the organisation’s immediate task is not only to manage the individual case but to map who knew what, when, and whether earlier choices create liability for managers.

For audiences, the result is a familiar pattern: a long-closed police investigation resurfaces as an employment crisis years later, with the decisive moment attributed to fresh information that remains unspecified. The public record contains dates, a CPS decision, and a contract termination.

The BBC ended the relationship on 27 March, but it is still explaining why it did not act in 2017.