BBC report: the executives given thousands in legal fees

Licence fee payers paid nearly £300,000 in legal costs for three senior executives at the centre of the row over the scrapping of a Newsnight investigation into serial Jimmy Savile.

Former Director General

He lasted 54 days as Director-General before resigning last year over the fiasco surrounding the Savile scandal, receiving a salary and severance package of more than £800,000.

The 51-year-old joined the BBC in 1989 and was made Director-General last September despite having little experience at the top level. His supporters included Jeremy Paxman but presenter Michael Buerk described him as the most disastrous Director-General in the BBC’s history.

He now works as an unpaid trustee at the Public Catalogue Foundation, which runs a joint initiative with the BBC to make a collection of oil paintings available online.

Former Director of News

MS BOADEN has been director of BBC Radio since February, when she was moved from her former position as Director of News following criticism over her handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The 57-year-old studied radio journalism at the London College of Printing and joined the BBC in 1983, rising through the ranks before she was appointed controller of Radio 4 in 2000 and then made the first female director of news in 2004.

Prior to the Savile scandal Ms Boaden was widely seen as a safe pair of hands and was well-liked by journalists at the corporation. She earned £340,000 as director of news.

Former Director General

DIRECTOR-GENERAL from 2004 to 2012, he is now chief executive and president of The New York Times Company.

The 55-year-old started at the BBC as a production trainee and rose up the ladder before leaving in 2001 to become chief executive of Channel 4. He returned to the BBC as Director-General following Greg Dyke’s resignation and oversaw staff and budget cuts.

Mr Thompson is facing questions about the Savile scandal. He is also at the centre of the row over pay-offs. He insists he kept the governing BBC Trust informed about severance deals, including £949,000 paid to his deputy Mark Byford — a claim denied by trust chairman Lord Patten.