John Plunkett  

BBC tech chief speaks of ‘horrendous’ year after he was made DMI scapegoat

Lawyer for John Linwood, who won unfair dismissal case, says it reveals unedifying insight into BBC senior management. By John Plunkett
  
  

John Linwood
John Linwood has spoklen of his horrendous year after being made the scapegoat for the BBC BMI fiasco. Photograph: PR

The BBC’s former chief technology officer John Linwood, who has won his unfair dismissal case against the corporation after he was sacked in the wake of the £100m Digital Media Initiative fiasco, said he was made a “scapegoat” by the BBC and described the year after his dismissal as “horrendous”.

Linwood said: “Serious allegations of misconduct were made against me out of the blue and without any foundation or prior investigation.

“I was told to resign or be put through a disciplinary process and face dismissal. I refused to resign because I had not committed any act of misconduct.

“The employment tribunal has now found that the allegations made against me were ‘general, vague, broad in nature and non-specific’ and ‘virtually impossible to address in any practical way’ and that my summary dismissal was profoundly procedurally and substantively unfair.

“The tribunal found that the entire BBC Executive was well aware of the problems of DMI throughout and that I was reporting factually through the appropriate channels.

“I believe I was made a scapegoat by the BBC. I am profoundly grateful to the employment tribunal for getting to the heart of this whole sorry episode.”

Linwood’s solicitor, Louise Hobbs of Signet Partners, said: “Our client’s decision to challenge his summary dismissal has been wholly vindicated. The process unleashed against him by the BBC in May 2013 was held to be ‘profoundly, substantively and procedurally flawed’.

“The judgment gives an unedifying insight into the inner workings of the BBC at senior management level.

“The tribunal found that the BBC’s culture of ‘sacrificial accountability’ and concerns about the presentation of external communications ‘entirely eclipsed the requirements of reasonable compliance with the fundamental principles of a fair hearing’.

“The tribunal also found that the BBC’s internal culture gave rise to the ‘steering of the spotlight of blame’ by others who ‘felt themselves to be in danger of association with the sinking ship’ of DMI.”

She added: “It was a very brave decision by Mr Linwood to challenge the might of the BBC. He took a principled stand and the outcome is thoroughly well-deserved. No one reading this judgment can be left in any doubt that our client, a senior professional with an excellent track record, has been treated appallingly by the BBC.”

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