The BBC has reached a settlement and further apologised to the mother of the murdered schoolgirl Karen Hadaway, who claimed that Martin Bashir took her daughter’s clothes and never returned them.
I expect the BBC bosses were happy to do so once assured it wasn't for a sexual purpose!
In 1991, Michelle Hadaway said that the former BBC reporter asked for her daughter’s clothes for DNA tests for the BBC Two social affairs programme Public Eye. The investigation was never aired, with Hadaway saying that her calls to the broadcaster were ignored.
In 2021, the BBC conducted a review of the case in a fresh effort to try to locate the clothing. The BBC director general, Tim Davie, said the corporation’s investigators had spoken directly to Bashir but he had said he “doesn’t know where the clothes are”.
Davie apologised to the family but said “regrettably 30 years on, little more can be done to find the missing clothes”.
Let's hope at least the BBC has learned that when one of its employees asks 'Hey, can I play at being a forensic expert?' the answer should be 'NO!'...
Although Bashir did not unlawfully appropriate the child's clothing, by failing/refusing to return them, he could be said to have unlawfully assumed rights of ownership, which is an offence under the Theft Act. Also, if he took the clothing before the Police had examined them, he could be said to have perverted the course of justice in interfering with evidence, an offence which can carry a maximum of life imprisonment. If only!
ReplyDeleteI can only hope the settlement with Al-Been was a large one, albeit paid by licence holders.
Penseivat
In the unlikely event that these clothes are ever found, I wonder whose DNA would be found on them.
ReplyDeleteJust saying…..
"I can only hope the settlement with Al-Been was a large one, albeit paid by licence holders."
ReplyDeleteIt will have been, for that very reason...
"...I wonder whose DNA would be found on them."
Maybe that's why they haven't been found...