Former BBC boss Mark Thompson admits conversation with Helen Boaden over Savile abuse claims
Former BBC director general has admitted he did have a conversation with former director of news Helen Boaden about allegations of sex abuse surrounding Jimmy Savile, but claims the pair had “different recollections” of it.
Interview: Former BBC director general Mark Thompson
In an interview scheduled to air on Channel 4 News tonight, Thompson admits a “brief conversation” took place between him and Helen Boaden, confirming claims she made earlier in the year. Thompson’s position has always been that he knew nothing of the nature of the allegations while he was at the BBC.
ITN have revealed that in tonight’s report, he tells reporter Miles Goslett: “Let’s be clear, there was a very brief conversation between Helen Boaden and myself… We had slightly different recollections about this conversation.”
The Pollard Inquiry cleared the former BBC boss when it concluded he hadn’t been told about the abuse allegations.
Thompson continues in the interview: “Nick Pollard knows he considered this fact and decided at the end of his investigation that he had no reason to doubt my version of events… That is what happened.”
“The key thing is this was a conversation about an investigation that she thought had failed.”
The latest development comes a day after Thomspon accused BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten of “fundamentally misleading” parliament about excessive pay-offs to senior executives.