Jeremy Vine brands Radio 2 colleague Scott Mills’ sacking ‘unfair’ because ‘there’s been no crime’ after police probe was dropped – as he questions why DJ didn’t get same mental health considerations as Huw Edwards

Jeremy Vine has described the sacking of his BBC Radio 2 colleague Scott Mills as ‘unfair’ and insisted there was “no wrongdoing” on his Tuesday show.

Mills was sacked six days after his final breakfast show on Radio 2 was taken off air last Tuesday.

Last night the Daily Mirror linked the decision to fire Mills to a 2016 police investigation into ‘serious sexual offenses’ committed against a teenage boy between 1997 and 2000. The case was dropped nearly seven years ago due to lack of evidence.

Vine, who hosts the daily Radio 2 show examining the day’s headlines, shared his sadness at Mills’ departure and added that he felt bosses sacked him out of regret at his failure to handle Huw Edwards’ behaviour.

Vine then asked: ‘Why couldn’t Edwards have been fired because he was in a fragile mental state, and everything I’ve read today about Scott’s past is based on his own anxiety and depression but there doesn’t seem to be the same interlude for him.’

The disgraced BBC News presenter was given a six-month suspended prison sentence after admitting three charges of producing images of children at the scene.

‘Scott Mills’ sacking confused a lot of people. What do you make of this? I’d love to know?’ Vine, who worked with Mills at Radio 2 for four years, said at the beginning of the program:

‘We heard the news here on Radio 2 just before 12pm yesterday, it came as a complete shock to those working at the station; ‘Our Breakfast Show host Scott Mills has been told he has been sacked following allegations about his personal behaviour.’

Later in the show Jeremy noted: ‘This is a very painful incident for everyone who knew Scott, he’s a very popular man in the building.’

During the show, Jeremy also spoke to the BBC’s Media and Culture Editor, Katie Razzell. Razzell said he would ask bosses “a range of questions” about Mills’ sacking, particularly about whether they were aware he was allegedly being investigated by police.

He later shared that the investigation began in 1997, when Mills was still working at Heart FM. He joined Radio 1 the following year.

Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust and baptismal vicar who was friends with Mills and worked with him on the Breakfast Show’s Pause for Thoughts episode, said there was a ‘sense of grief, loss, sadness and shock’.

‘My thoughts, my heart, my pain go out to him and also to the family of any victim of any crime and anyone involved,’ he added.

Jeremy later stated that ‘there was no crime’ as Mills was never charged with any offence.

He said: ‘The point is that there was no crime and this is where it gets difficult, the investigations have been completed and there is no crime. We are faced with something we call bad behavior.

‘There’s a sense here that what the BBC did was they sacked Huw Edwards, they wished they had dealt with Huw earlier and decided to treat Scott the same way they wanted to treat Huw. That would be a bit unfair, wouldn’t it?’

‘As for the inconsistency here, we’re told Huw Edwards can’t be fired because he’s in a fragile mental state, everything I’ve read today about Scott’s past is based on his own anxiety, depression and everything else, but there doesn’t seem to be the same cut-off for him.’

Another senior BBC broadcaster said the company was in “complete shock” after Mills was sacked.

An email from BBC music director Lorna Clarke on Monday morning revealed there were “audible gasps” from staff.

Many stars who spent time with him described him as ‘kind and generous’ and said their friends were ‘devastated’ for him.

He was also described as ‘hugely popular’ within the company by a radio colleague.

“It doesn’t suit the BBC to move so quickly,” one well-known broadcaster told the Daily Mail.

Another source claimed wild rumors were circulating at Broadcasting House about the reason for his sacking.

“No suspension period or prolonged investigation is not a good sign,” another insider said.

It emerged today that the teenage boy who accused Mills of serious sexual offenses in the 1990s was under 16 at the time.

Scotland Yard also confirmed that the Crown Prosecution Service had dismissed the case due to lack of evidence and that the investigation into the broadcaster was closed in 2019.

Mills was sacked last Tuesday, six days after his final breakfast show on Radio 2 was taken off the air after shocking friends and colleagues at the BBC; pictured: Scott Mills, Emma B, Jeremy Vine, Dermot O’Leary, Alan Carr and Sara Cox

The Daily Mail can also reveal the complainant may have been inspired to speak out again this year due to Huw Edwards’ new documentary series.

Two sources said it was claimed at the BBC that the unnamed man may have gone to the company because of the huge publicity surrounding Martin Clunes, who starred as Huw Edwards in Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards.

Former police officer and now investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas said police contacts confirmed to him that Mills was interviewed by the Met as part of a side investigation of Operation Yewtree in 2018.

Mr Williams-Thomas helped expose Jimmy Savile and his work led to police investigations into Savile and others, including Rolf Harris.

‘Police have been inundated with allegations post-Savile and as a result this has led to high-profile stars being named,’ he told the Mail today. [by complainants]One of them was Scott Mills. He was not charged but was allowed to continue working.’

The BBC refuses to say why he was sacked other than it was related to his ‘personal behaviour’. The company is now under pressure to disclose what they knew about Mills’ encounter with police and when they knew it.

Mills joined BBC Radio 1 in 1998 from Heart 106.2, where he started in 1995, after working in local radio in Hampshire, Bristol and Manchester. He left the BBC yesterday after 28 years.

A source claimed managing director Tony Hall was unaware of the allegations during the police investigation.

A BBC executive in London told the Daily Mail today that there was a genuine belief among bosses at the corporation that the timing of Mills’ sacking and the release of the Edwards drama was ‘no coincidence’.

‘The Huw Edwards drama showed that there could be a reckoning,’ they said.

Another senior BBC broadcaster added that the claim that the Edwards drama was a ‘spark’ was circulating at Broadcasting House.

The BBC declined to comment on the allegations.

Last night the Daily Mirror reported that the decision to fire Mills followed a police investigation into ‘serious sexual offenses’ against a teenage boy in 2016.

The BBC declined to comment on why they were not suspended or sacked at the time and why they were sacked almost a decade later.