New documents have emerged allegedly showing that Tony Blackburn was interviewed by BBC bosses in 1970s over claims he “seduced” a teenager who later killed herself.
The veteran DJ claimed he had been “scapegoated” by the BBC in the wake of the report published into child sex abuse by Jimmy Savile at the corporation published on Thursday.
Mr Blackburn was dismissed by BBC Director-General Lord Tony Hall after the report's author Dame Janet Smith dismissed the his evidence as “inconsistent”.
Secret documents obtained by the Mirror allegedly show that he was interviewed by BBC bosses in 1971 over claims made by Vera McAlpine that Mr Blackburn had “seduced” her 15-year-old daughter Claire who died of an overdose.
In the papers, it is reported the BBC’s Assistant Head of Variety Tony Preston and Head of Light Entertainment Bill Cotton apparently said they had interviewed Mr Blackburn about the allegations and he issued a “flat denial”.
The papers also reportedly reveal the entertainer was interviewed again several times over the following year after a string of scandals at Top of the Pops - where Claire worked as a dancer.
It is said Mr Preston wrote: “[Mr Blackburn] told me that the girl had come to see him on several occasions and had invented stories for the purpose of getting access to him. He said she seemed to him in a sort of fantasy world but that she had not made any sexual advances.”
Mr Blackburn has continued to deny the alleged interviews took place and said he stood by the evidence he “voluntarily” gave to the BBC.
The 73-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and said he had “no choice” but to sue the corporation for his dismissal.
He said: "Given Dame Janet Smith’s concerns of a culture of fear in coming forward at the BBC, the fact that I have been scapegoated for giving my honest account and best recollections of those events 45 years ago, which I felt was a whitewash, what whistleblower at the BBC would ever come forward when they see the way they have hung me out to dry?”
