Children In Need’s chairwoman has quit over £460,000 of grants awarded to a controversial transgender youth group hit by a series of child sex abuse scandals.
Rosie Millard, 59, accused the charity of ‘institutional failure’ in an explosive letter announcing her resignation after six years – as she slammed the organisation’s ‘dithering’ chief executive.
News of her resignation came just days after Children In Need raised £39.2million during its fundraiser on Friday – with former Top Gear host Paddy McGuinness drumming up £9million by riding his chopper bike 300 miles.
Writer and broadcaster Ms Millard slammed Children In Need’s chief executive, Simon Antrobus for his response to revelations that £466,000 was awarded in grants to LGBT Youth Scotland, which supports gay and transgender people aged 13 to 25.
Children In Need started giving the charity cash seven months after James Rennie, LGBTYS’s then chief executive, was convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting a baby boy, having been part of a sordid paedophile ring.
This year another man, Andrew Easton – who co-authored a ‘coming out guide’ for LGBTYS, was convicted of sharing indecent images of children including abhorrent pictures of newborn babies.
The grants to the youth group were only suspended in May of this year after Ms Millard said she alerted Children In Need to the 2009 case and, after a review, funding was withdrawn three months later, The Times reports.
Ms Millard accused Mr Antrobus of not responding with the ‘necessary level of seriousness’ to the scandal, and claimed he only cut the funding out of fear of negative publicity. She also alleged that upon hearing of the scandal, he had said it ruined his enjoyment of a Bruce Springsteen concert.
In her letter, Ms Millard said: ‘That they could write this about the reported rape of a child is astonishing.’
In a statement on Wednesday night she said: ‘It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as chair of BBC Children in Need.
‘Witnessing the incredible impact of our supporters’ generosity on the lives of children and young people has been truly inspiring. I’m immensely proud of the collective achievements we’ve made together.’
Following her stepping down, Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC, praised Ms Millard for her leadership during her six years with the charity.
‘She has had a significant impact on countless children and young people and we wish her all the best for the future,’ Mr Davie said.
But Mhairi Crawford, chief executive of LGBTYS, told The Times Millard’s resignation letter ‘demonstrates the ideologically driven nature of her attacks on our organisation’.
LBGTYS’s ex-boss James Rennie, from Edinburgh, was jailed for life for horrific child sex assaults after he was unmasked as a member of one of Britain’s worst-ever paedophile rings.
Rennie, a former SNP government advisor, sexually assaulted a three-month-old child he was trusted to babysit for.
He also conspired to get access to children in order to abuse them, with the paedophile often accessing a dedicated Hotmail account for the sex abuse ring he was in while at work, a court heard.
LGBTYS’s other paedophile was Andrew Easton. He co-authored a 40-page transgender ‘coming out’ guide in 2010 for children as young as 13, with advice on surgery, hormones, and transitioning.
Easton was later convicted of downloading and distributing indecent images of children, including newborn babies.
He was caught with dozens of video files – some containing the most serious category of child abuse images – by cybercrime officers over internet chats with someone he believed to be a vulnerable 13-year-old he called ‘baby boy’. He was convicted in August, avoiding prison in favour of a Community Payback Order.
LGBTYS admitted Easton had contributed to an early version of the ‘coming out guide’ which it said may still be in use but has been superseded by another, similar, document – ‘co-produced with young people aged 13-25 who are trans, non-binary or are questioning their gender identity’.
In September Children in Need pulled the plug on funding for the controversial gay and transgender rights group for teens.
LGBTYS received £1.4million of funding last year from a variety of sources including the SNP Government. It’s Children in Need funding was axed following a ‘thorough review’.
In a statement, a BBC Children in Need spokesman: ‘Nothing is more important to us than the safety of all children and young people. When allegations were made in relation to LGBT Youth Scotland their grant was immediately suspended with the full support of the board and a review began. In order to do this thoroughly and fairly the review took three months and culminated in the decision to withdraw funding.
‘The Children in Need board of trustees are supportive of the actions taken by the CEO and senior leadership team and stand by the decisions made. Rosie at all times retained the board’s support.
‘In the wake of her resignation, in order to ensure any lessons learnt are captured, the trustees have instigated a review of ways of working between the board and executive in which Rosie has kindly agreed to participate.’
On Sunday, Paddy McGuinness emotionally told listeners of his BBC Radio 2 show that he ‘cannot comprehend’ the ‘staggering’ amount raised, before revealing he had drummed up £9,124,609.
The former Top Gear host, 51, undertook a 300-mile bike ride, beginning in Wrexham, Wales, last Monday and crossing the finish line in Glasgow on Thursday.
Paddy gushed: ‘Give me a second everyone, let me just take in this figure. You lot, wherever you might be now, if you’re listening to this show and you put a couple of quid in the bucket.
‘Or whether you got the chequebook out and you put in a vast amount, every single person who has got involved, every child’s pocket money, every person with a last bit of spare money in their pocket.
‘Everyone, all of you, so far, for Children In Need we have raised £9,124,609. Get in! Come on! Can you believe that?’
He efforts helped bring this year’s total raised by the charity to more than £39.2m – its biggest sum for three years and 16 per cent higher than 2023’s efforts, that raised £33.5million.