Who knew what when

So last Monday someone complains about Scott Mills' behaviour, back in 1997-2000; the BBC looks into it, and decides to sack him on Saturday.  The news is broken at 11:30am yesterday, and the Daily Mirror seems to have had a beat on the remainder of Fleet Street. The Mirror is the only tabloid vaguely supportive of the existence of the BBC. 

How much could the BBC have already known from Mills' file ?  In 1997, Scott was working for "London's Heart 106.2", joining Radio 1 in 1998. But we're told the allegations of "serious sex offences" against a "teenage boy" were raised by a force outside London. In 2001, Scott Mills came out as gay to The Guardian; later he talked about turning to alcohol after the suicide of an early boyfriend. Mitch. He also talked about 'the support of Radio 1'.   Matthew Bannister was Controller in 1997, followed by Andy Parfitt. 

The outside-London force decide to raise Mills with the Met in December 2016.  What was the trigger ?  The Dame Janet Smith review into Savile et Al at the BBC was published that year; the BBC fell out with Tony Blackburn over 'the standard of his evidence' to the inquiry. Also in 2016, Scott Mills parted with another boyfriend, marketing man Bradley Harris. In July 2018, the Met interviewed Scott Mills under caution.  A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, suggesting the police felt there was a case to answer;  they 'determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.'   Presumably some of this should have come to the notice of Scott's managers; Ben Cooper was the Controller of Radio 1. 

A reminder that Lorna Clarke, who communicated news of Mills' departure to staff, was 'stepped back' from her role as Director of Music in July last year after the Glastonbury coverage of Bob Vylan.