Suicide BBC reporter said ex-Radio 1 DJ Liz Kershaw threatened him in aggressive phone calls

BBC radio DJ Liz Kershaw has been named as the woman alleged to have made threatening phone calls to a male colleague who committed suicide last month. Detectives last week launched an inquiry to help the coroner discover why Russell Joslin, 50, suffocated himself.

Claims: Russel Joslin's father Peter alleges that BBC DJ Liz Kershaw made threatening calls to his son

His family claim he was driven to his death after BBC bosses failed to take seriously allegations that he had been offended by a female colleague five years ago. However The Mail on Sunday has been unable to substantiate these allegations. The identity of the woman has so far remained a secret and Ms Kershaw has not responded to repeated requests from The Mail on Sunday to talk about the matter. But both sources at the BBC and Mr Joslin’s father, a former chief constable, have identified Ms Kershaw as the woman linked to the Warwickshire police investigation.

 

Distressed: BBC broadcast journalist Russell Joslin suffocated himself

The news adds to the pressure on the BBC. Ms Kershaw, now a DJ on BBC digital station 6 Music, recently claimed she was routinely groped by male colleagues when she worked at Radio 1 in the Eighties. She spoke out in the wake of revelations about Jimmy Savile. Mr Joslin, who as a reporter at BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, is believed to have received a series of phone messages from Ms Kershaw after they argued during a meal out together in 2007 and he apparently walked out on her in a restaurant, leaving her to find her own way back to Coventry. The phone messages branded him a ‘flake’ and ‘a loser’.

Ms Kershaw, now 54, worked at BBC Coventry and Warwickshire between 2005 and 2011. While there is no evidence that the messages contributed to the death of Mr Joslin, who was being treated in a psychiatric hospital when he died, his family claims that he was left ‘a shadow of his former self’ because he felt bosses failed to act on his complaints.

Anger: Russell Joslin's father ex police chief Peter Joslin has blamed Corporation bosses for failing to stop his death

The BBC has launched an investigation, but the family is demanding a fully independent inquiry. Mr Joslin’s father Peter, 77, the retired chief constable of Warwickshire, said last night: ‘When Liz Kershaw joined BBC Coventry and Warwickshire she did not know the area and for some reason Russell was chosen to show her around. ‘He quite enjoyed it, I think, until this particular incident but after that life became very tough for him. ‘We have the recordings of what she said to him. Russell, being a good reporter, actually recorded the messages as they were being left. ‘They were very unpleasant and she made it clear that she felt she was on a different level to him.  A lot of things happened because he had to carry on working with her. He did not tell us everything but it badly affected him.

'We have recordings of what she said to him'

‘He was contracted to read the news on her show and told some of his friends about how she had cut him off and that sort of thing. It changed the way he felt about the BBC.’ Peter Joslin, who led the Warwickshire force for 15 years, added: ‘He had a bad episode earlier in the year. We thought he had recovered, but after a discussion with senior people at the BBC he thought there was no hope of obtaining justice. A few days later he killed himself. ‘The discussion between Russell and the BBC happened a week before he died. I don’t know what part the Jimmy Savile business played in Russell’s mind but he followed the news. ‘Russell was a character, the last person many of his friends would have thought this would happen to.  But he was a reporter to the end and this is the last story for him. His last act was to make sure people knew the reason. He did not leave a letter but there are so many ways of getting your message out these days. ‘Until now, I have felt sick in the stomach because nobody was allowed to say who it was that Russell had been talking about.’

When asked if he had given Liz Kershaw’s name to police, Mr Joslin  replied: ‘We did speak to the police about this in the early stages. I know they have all the facts and the names of those involved. ’  Russell is though to have spoken to the BBC occupational health department about the case this spring, when he was off work with stress. According to reports, one of the phone messages sent to Mr Joslin said: ‘Thanks for abandoning me. Don’t ever ever think of me as your mate again. Do what you have to at the BBC cause you are a loser on 27 grand a year. But don’t ever encroach on me or my talent.’

Another message said: ‘You are flaky, you are poor, you are weak. I don’t want anything to do with you except on the radio. Goodbye.’ A third said: ‘Don’t ever, ever presume friendship with me again, all right? Goodbye.’ The allegation that Ms Kershaw, made the calls to Mr Joslin came after she claimed last month there was a culture of sexual harassment of women at Radio 1 and that she was groped while broadcasting live. Ms Kershaw, who worked for Radio 1 in the Eighties, met BBC director-general George Entwistle after she claimed on Radio 4’s Today programme that an unidentified male colleague had repeatedly stroked her breasts while she was on air. 

She said: ‘There was a reporter who routinely groped me. I would be sitting in the studio with my headphones on and my back to the studio door. I couldn’t say anything, I couldn’t even explain because I was broadcasting to the nation.’ A BBC spokesman refused to be drawn on Ms Kershaw’s involvement in the matter. He said: ‘It would be inappropriate to comment on names or specific details until all the facts are known but the BBC is committed to working constructively with the family to ensure that their concerns are vigorously addressed. ‘What we can say is that we are undertaking an investigation overseen by an external professional to establish the facts about how any complaints made by Russell were reported and how the BBC acted on them. We will also co-operate fully with the coroner’s inquest which is charged with determining the cause of Russell’s death and will consider its findings carefully’. When approached by The Mail on Sunday yesterday Ms Kershaw declined to comment.

Source: Daily Mail UK 

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