Blue CHEATER (again)!!

BBC faked viewers' poll to name the Blue Peter cat

Last updated at 17:58pm on 19th September 2007 Comments

New scandal: Richard Marson is said to have been suspended over poll rigging allegations

A former Blue Peter editor is understood to have been suspended after it emerged today that a viewers' poll to name a cat had been rigged.

Richard Marson, who was involved in Blue Peter's faked phone-in scandal, is understood to have been sent home this week over the incident in January last year.

He is accused of choosing a different name for the cat to the one voted for in an online poll by viewers. According to MediaGuardian, the cat was named Socks after the poll closed - the name of former U.S. president Bill Clinton's cat.

Mr Marson is understood to be consulting his lawyer over the suspension. A source told MediaGuardian that Mr Marson's colleagues were 'in shock' at the decision to suspend him.

BBC bosses today declined to comment.

At the centre of the latest BBC scandal is Socks the Blue Peter cat

The move comes as a BBC producer today became the first person to be sacked over the faked phone-in scandal.

In an unprecedented move, Leona McCambridge, a producer on BBC 6 Music, is said to have been visited at home yesterday by 6 Music and Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas and told of the decision to summarily dismiss her for gross misconduct.

It follows an internal investigation into claims that BBC staff repeatedly posed as competition winners on the Liz Kershaw show - one of several serious breaches of the BBC's editorial codes uncovered by management in July.

While the programmes appeared to be broadcast live they were in fact pre-recorded and no genuine listeners were able to take part.

Ms McCambridge, understood to be in her thirties and one of several BBC staff told to stand aside from their jobs pending an inquiry, is the first to be axed, but insiders today claimed that more will follow.

Also under investigation is BBC 6 Music head of programmes Ric Blaxill, who, insiders allege, was aware of the deceit and engaged in similar stunts while acting as a stand-in producer on the Russell Brand show. He is said to have been 'on leave' since 6 September.

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Deceit: phone-in contests on Liz Kershaw's radio show were pre-recorded

Fallout: Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas visited producer at home to tell her of sacking

Ms Douglas was expected to address BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music staff at an emergency meeting this morning.

But union leaders today accused the BBC of making Ms McCambridge a 'sacrificial lamb'. She is now planning to appeal against her dismissal through broadcast union Bectu.

The union's assistant general secretary Luke Crawley told the Mail's sister newspaper The Evening Standard: "The BBC has dismissed a fairly junior member of staff. It's disappointing that they have failed to address this problem where it starts, which is at the top with programme and network heads."

He said claims that Ms McCambridge had been visited at home by Ms Douglas, accompanied by three members of personnel staff, were 'unprecedented'.

He added: "Gross misconduct usually applies to things like theft or fighting, where someone has reaped benefit from their actions."

Another union source said: "These people don't formulate the policy, they arrive on a show where it is already established and it is made clear to them that if they question that it would end their career on that show."

Ms McCambridge had since been working as a producer on the Gideon Coe slot - for which she won a Sony award. During her BBC career she also worked on the Andrew Collins show and John Peel Sessions.

According to a BBC insider, the Liz Kershaw show - taken off air in the summer - is now unlikely to return.

Internal investigations are still under way into similar breaches on other shows, as well as the editing of footage of a documentary about the Queen for a press launch. The BBC refused to comment on the sacking.