BBC deputy director of news quits

BBC deputy director of news Stephen Mitchell has resigned in the wake of the Newsnight Jimmy Savile scandal.

Acting Director-General Tim Davie said he had accepted Mitchell’s resignation with “great sadness”. However, it soon became clear that still nobody has been sacked over the issue.

Mitchell’s resignation came as former Sky News executive Nick Pollard released his review into the decision to drop a report into Savile’s sexual abuse, saying it was “flawed” and plunged the

BBC into “chaos’’.

Newsnight editor Peter Rippon and his deputy Liz Gibbons — editor on the night of the disastrous documentary which led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly named as a paedophile — are being replaced and have not been working on the programme for a number of weeks due to the fallout.

Meanwhile, according to a BBC report, news director Helen Boaden will return to her post tomorrow after having stepped aside while the Pollard review was carried out.

Davie insisted that Mitchell would not be receiving a pay-off, and said the BBC is replacing the senior editorial team for Newsnight with the appointment of a new editor and deputy editor.

The BBC said it would tighten up its procedures for difficult stories and there will be improved guidance and training for journalists about how and when material should be handed to police.