Shelagh Fogarty, the radio presenter, has said she was groped while working at BBC Radio 5 Live.
She revealed her experience during her Monday afternoon programme on LBC. Fogarty said she had not complained about the incident but hinted that the man had subsequently groped more women.
“I know a lot more than I am about to say or prepared to say – for obvious reasons it would be wrong to do that – but I myself was groped by an individual at BBC Radio 5 Live a long time ago,” she said.
“I did not feel any distress at it, simply because that person was so much younger than me, so new to the environment and was drunk. It was a party, a leaving do.
“I told him there and then, and it was in front of people, that it was a disgraceful thing to do and he should go away from me now and not come near me again and off he went.”
Fogarty said the man apologised for his behaviour after being spoken to by another colleague. However, she added: “I just gave the guy advice. He was like a kid as far as I was concerned, much much younger than me, and said: ‘Look if you continue to behave like this you will get yourself into trouble, you need to address your behaviour. I’m not a 22-year-old girl or young woman who might be alarmed by this, I am someone who is significantly older than you. Address your behaviour.’ Now I don’t think he has addressed his behaviour.”
Fogarty worked for 5 Live for 15 years, between 1999 and 2014. She co-presented the breakfast show with Nicky Campbell on 5 Live between 2004 and 2011 before moving to her own programme.
Separately over the weekend, it emerged that George Riley, a sports presenter on 5 Live’s breakfast show, has been suspended by the BBC after women made complaints about his conduct.
The BBC’s internal corporate security and investigations team, which is led by Carol Ann Kinley-Smith, a former Metropolitan police detective, is handling various allegations of sexual harassment at the corporation and more names could emerge in the coming days.
Riley has not made any comment about the allegations against him and is understood to have been informed of his suspension on Friday morning. He presents the sports news on 5 Live’s breakfast alongside Campbell and Rachel Burden.
Riley joined 5 Live, which is based in Salford, in 2004. He has also presented sports events on television for the BBC and fronted Channel 5’s Football on 5, which shows Football League highlights, between 2015 and 2017.
On Monday’s breakfast show, Burden attempted to address the coverage of Riley’s suspension in the media. She said: “Now you may have seen newspaper reports over the weekend that George Riley, who presents sport on this programme, has been suspended by the BBC after a number of women complained about his behaviour.
“The BBC has not confirmed or denied the story. It says it can’t comment on individuals but treats any allegation seriously and they have processes in places for investigating them. George Riley has not made any comment. I know it’s something as our listeners you will have a particular interest in but that is all we can say at the moment.”
Anne Robinson, the former host of the Weakest Link and Watchdog programmes on the BBC, sparked a backlash after questioning the “fragility of women who aren’t able to cope with the treachery of the workplace”.
Speaking on BBC News, she said: “In the early days, 40 years ago, there were very few of us women in power and, I have to say, we had a much more robust attitude to men behaving badly.
“Now what seems to have happened, the glass ceiling has been shattered but running alongside that is a sort of fragility amongst women who aren’t able to cope with the treachery of the workplace. It shouldn’t be happening but, on the other hand, why have women lost confidence and why do, certainly MPs, a PA to a trade minister, feel they have to go and buy sex toys when they’re asked to? I despair.”
Robinson’s comments were criticised on social media, with one person calling her a “dinosaur” and another accusing her of “classic victim blaming”.
