Jonathan Ross escapes further retribution for Andrew Sachs Scandal

The London News.Net
Saturday 22nd November, 2008 (ANI)

London, Nov 22 : English radio and television presenter Jonathan Ross would not be doled out any further punishment for the Andrew Sachs obscene phone calls scandal, the BBC Trust ruled today.

Both Ross and fellow presenter Russell Brand had caused a controversy after they left lewd messages on the answering machine of the Fawlty Towers actor for a Radio 2 broadcast last month.

But now Ross will not be facing any further action revealed Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons, and he will be free to return to his six million pounds-a-year job as a BBC presenter when his current period of suspension without pay ends in January.

The Trust said that the material broadcast was a "deplorable intrusion" into the private lives of Sachs and his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, adding that there was no "editorial justification" and no "informed consent obtained" for airing the messages.

"We have underlined very clearly that it is not the job of the Trust to make decisions about the terms and conditions of performers or the sanctions that are applied to them when they are found to be wanting," the Mirror quoted Lyons as saying.

"We are very clear that the director general has taken the right action with respect to Jonathan Ross," he added.

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