The BBC announced that it fired sports broadcaster Stuart Hall the same day that UK prosecutors confirmed he “pleaded guilty to 14 indecent assaults on young girls” between 1967 and 1986, the Associated Press reported. Hall started working for the BBC in 1959.
According to the AP, Hall’s plea was kept under wraps “for legal reasons” and because of “reporting restrictions” for two weeks. UK prosecutor Nazir Afzal called Hall “an opportunistic predator.” Hall’s attorney Crispin Aylett said Hall was “sorry for what he has done,” according to the AP.
The BBC announced it will hold a “freestanding investigation” into Hall’s actions. That investigation will be totally separate from an investigation into Jimmy Savile and accusations of widespread sexual abuse.