A FORMER BBC producer has complained that her evidence about being sexually harassed by the disgraced presenter Stuart Hall has been dismissed by an inquiry set up to look into the culture at the corporation — and that she has been made to feel a victim all over again.
Linda McDougall, who worked with Hall on Look North in the 1960s, said she had consulted lawyers after being sent a letter giving her notice of some of the potential findings.
“I felt very hurt by it,” she said. “I spoke out because it is time this kind of behaviour is named publicly so new generations of men understand how it affects women to be touched at work and have their protests ignored. Now I am imagining how awful it will be when the report comes out.”
Dame Linda Dobbs is investigating how Hall, who was jailed for five years for indecently assaulting 14 girls aged nine to 17, was able to carry out some of his activities while at the BBC.
Her report is part of a wider review by Dame Janet Smith into the culture of the BBC, including Jimmy Savile’s activities.
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In a 2013 article for this paper, McDougall, wife of the former Labour MP Austin Mitchell, revealed she was sexually harassed almost every day during the four years she worked with Hall, but was told by staff “not to make such a fuss”.
She said she made it clear to Hall that she objected to being groped, having her stockings twanged or her breasts touched. McDougall insisted bosses must have known what was going on.
But a letter sent to McDougall by Dobbs’s team said the inquiry intended to note some staff “were under the impression that you and Hall were friendly and that you appeared to enjoy ‘ticking him off’”. It had decided, having spoken to witnesses, that her bosses did not know Hall was having sex on BBC premises.
A later letter to McDougall revealed that when a woman made an allegation and there were no witnesses — such as that made by a senior BBC female member of staff who said she was assaulted by Hall in a lift — it would not make “adverse findings” because it was too long ago.
McDougall wrote back saying the inquiry seemed to suggest she was lying. “This is precisely what has happened to women in legal processes since time immemorial,” she wrote.
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“Why would I invent such experiences? The easier course would have been to keep my head down as women were taught to do.”
McDougall said last week that she had since received another letter from the inquiry team which indicated her evidence would be broadly accepted “but with caveats”.
The BBC said: “We have not seen the report and have no intention of commenting ahead of its publication.”