Tony Livesey has today left BBC Radio 5 Live after he was named in a Panorama investigation by a glamour model who claims she was forced to have sex with David Sullivan to get work.
The channel’s controller Heidi Dawson told staff that the 62-year-old – who previously edited the Daily Sport – had ‘decided to leave’ the role after 16 years.
His departure came after a woman, known only as Florence, claimed David Sullivan ‘took away her innocence’ when he allegedly pressured her into sleeping with him in 1999.
She told Panorama that the billionaire West Ham co-owner forced her to have sex with him at his mansion when she was 20 and Sullivan was 50, allegedly promising her work in return.
Florence alleged the meeting, which she believed would be a professional casting and job interview, only came about after she met Tony Livesey in the Daily Sport newsroom and he personally telephoned Sullivan to arrange it.
She told Panorama: ‘He [Tony Livesey] picked up his phone on this messy desk and called Sullivan. He went: “Have you got your diary there… can you do this date?” I was like: “I can do that date.” He then said: “Write it in – you’re going to see David Sullivan”.’
She added: ‘He [Sullivan] took away my innocence. What he did set me off on a spiral that went for many, many, many, many years.’
Livesey, who said he had ‘no recollection’ of the alleged incident, stepped away from his late-night show following the Panorama’s release on June 8.
BBC Radio 5 Live controller Heidi Dawson today sent staff a glowing note about Livesey’s career at the station, with no mention of the Panorama programme.
‘I wanted to let you know that Tony Livesey has decided to leave his presenting role on 5 Live,’ she said.
Tony Livesey was editor-in-chief of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport. A woman, named only as Florence, claims it was he who organised her visit to Sullivan’s house where he allegedly coerced her into sex. He has left BBC Radio 5 Live today
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been accused of abusing a number of women and preying on them for sex, but denies all the allegations
Florence, then 20, claims she met Mr Livesey, then editor of the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers (pictured in Panorama), who then telephoned Sullivan to arrange a date for her to visit the businessman’s house
This is Sullivan’s mansion in Essex, which is where a number of the alleged incidents are said to have happened
‘Tony has worked at 5 Live for 16 years and was the first voice for us on air as we launched from our new home in Salford. Tony built a loyal late-night audience, often with our greatly missed colleague, Rachael Bland, at his side.
‘He went on to be the voice of our iconic Drive show for 10 years where he was at the heart of our coverage of Brexit. He reported from the Falkland Islands and RAF Akrotiri, and was a key part of our presenting team at the London and Paris Olympics, as well as hosting our Wimbledon coverage for six years.
‘Tony grew Drive’s audience, particularly through Covid alongside Anna Foster, with positive stories of hope that the audience were desperate to hear.
‘Tony has been at the heart of our coverage of every major news and sporting event for a decade and a half. He won prestigious Arias and APA awards for his reporting about how it feels to lose your mum as a child, and an Arias gold award after he was asked by Dame Deborah James to conduct her last ever interview.
‘With his final Lates show at 5 Live, Tony grew audience figures once again.
‘Tony has asked me to pass on his heartfelt thanks to the brilliant colleagues at 5 Live who he has had the pleasure of working with over the years.
‘I know many of you have also really enjoyed working with Tony, and we wish him well for all his future endeavours.’
The naming of Mr Livesey by one of eight alleged victims of David Sullivan in June was a major headache for new BBC Director General, Matt Brittin.
Mr Brittin had just taken over from Tim Davie who battled a series of serious sex scandals involving BBC stars including Huw Edwards, Tim Westwood and most recently Scott Mills.
Florence claims she met Mr Livesey, then editor of the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers, who then telephoned Sullivan to arrange a date for her to visit the businessman’s house.
Eight days later she went to Sullivan’s mansion in Theydon Bois, Essex.
He allegedly told her at the meeting in his office that she would be one of his ‘regular girls’ – working as a glamour model in his newspapers and magazines – if they had sex.
She claims he then manoeuvred her into one of his bedrooms, pulled his tracksuit bottoms down and forced himself on her.
‘I’m 99.9 per cent sure I said: “I don’t want to.” It was almost like a transaction… That’s how it felt,’ she told Panorama.
Mr Livesey claimed in his newspaper memoir Babes, Booze, Orgies and Aliens that he and Sullivan came up with the ‘Countdown to 16’ pornographic feature.
The Sunday Sport used revealing images of young girls to tease the publication of topless pictures when they turned 16 – which was at the time the minimum age someone could appear nude.
It was raised to the age of 18 in 2004.
Mr Livesey told BBC Panorama that he has ‘no recollection’ of the alleged incident Florence described and it was ‘not part’ of his job to do so.
He said he had ‘great sympathy for a woman who may have become a victim’, but rejected any suggestion that he had played ‘any role whatsoever in that scenario’ and said he found the allegation ‘abhorrent’.
He also denied that he was behind the ‘Countdown to 16’ pornographic feature.
Instead he told the BBC that it was ‘categorically’ not his idea and that much of his book was actually fictionalised in order to make it appear that he ‘was at the centre of all stories’, when he wasn’t.
Sullivan vehemently denies claims he is a sexual predator and said, through his lawyers, that the layout of his house makes Florence’s claims ‘implausible’.
In April, Sullivan’s right-hand woman at West Ham, Karren Brady, quit the club.
She has not commented on the Panorama investigation and was not mentioned at all on last night’s show.
Baroness Brady remains an aide to Lord Sugar and mentor to candidates on BBC hit The Apprentice.
Mr Livesey has built himself a career as a successful broadcaster since leaving Sullivan’s newspaper empire – but was not on his regular evening show last night.
Stand-in host Qasa Alom began the programme with a report about the Panorama investigation.
Two hours before Livesey was due to go on air Florence claimed on the Panorama documentary that he had put her in touch with Sullivan.
Mr Livesey was a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live for almost 17 years, having joined the station in June 2009.
He initially hosted the late-night show, then went on to co-host the Weekend Breakfast and Drive programmes. His last show was the late-night phone-in show from Monday to Thursday.
David Sullivan has been accused of preying on a string of women, some in their teens, during his time as a newspaper chief.
Sources who worked in the industry at the time reportedly said Sullivan’s nickname was ‘B**w Job or No Job’, due to his reputation for expecting sexual favours in exchange for access to the vast opportunities he could offer aspiring models.
Sullivan resigned from his post at West Ham after learning of the investigation that has collected the allegations, which span decades and date back to the 1980s.
Seven women gave detailed accounts of experiences they claim to have had with Sullivan as young models seeking work on his Sunday Sport and Daily Sport newspapers.
They accused Sullivan of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex or oral sex during business meetings by suggesting it would aid their careers. Sullivan denies the allegations.
The BBC also reports that Sullivan, 77, has separately admitted to paying for sex in the 1990s with a girl who he understood to be 16 or 17 years old.
He was in his 40s at the time, and it only became illegal to pay for sex with a 16 or 17-year-old in 2003.
Sullivan said he ‘categorically’ denies all the allegations, and vowed to sue any media outlet that repeats them. Sullivan currently retains his 38.8 per cent stake in West Ham.
Sacha Wall is the only alleged victim who wanted to be named, and claims Sullivan tried to have sex with her in exchange for help with her career
Sullivan ran the Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, and it was while seeking modelling work at his titles that the women claim they were abused
Sacha Wall is the only alleged victim of Sullivan’s predatory behaviour who wanted to be named.
She claims that, as a 24-year-old aspiring model, Sullivan tried to pressure her into a sexual encounter by suggesting it would advance her career.
Ms Wall said that in 1998, she was invited to Sullivan’s Essex mansion for what she had believed would be a business meeting.
She recalled being surprised to find him dressed very informally, in flip-flops, red shorts and a T-shirt.
Sullivan leafed through her modelling portfolio while repeating ‘very nice, very nice’, in a way that made her uncomfortable, Ms Wall claims.
She says he then instructed her to follow him upstairs and undress down to her underwear – which she did, because she was interested in seeking topless modelling work.
He then allegedly told her to come and sit next to him – at which point she moved away and put her bra back on.
When she told him she would not sleep with him, she claims he looked ‘very shocked’ and replied: ‘What, not even a b**w job?’
Ms Wall said she was ‘really scared’ to find the door locked when she tried to leave, but that Sullivan opened it when she demanded to be let out.
She later appeared in his Sport newspaper, but said she was often given the worst jobs.
A woman, whose name has been changed to Anna by the publishers of the investigation, appeared in the Sport the month after her 17th birthday.
She entered the Miss Sport competition, which involved sending photos into the newspaper.
She was then invited to an event at an Essex nightclub, which she attended with her mother as a chaperone.
At the venue – where the entertainment included women dancing on tabletops surrounded by large groups of ‘touchy-feely’ men – she claims she was invited to go for a private chat with Sullivan.
He allegedly asked the 17-year-old to give him a ‘b**w job’, promising he would make her a ‘star’ – but she refused.
In another alleged case, Florence, then 20, said she went to his Essex home, dressed smartly and with her boyfriend for support.
It was her who claimed Tony Livesey had helped organise it and she believed it would be a formal job interview.
Sullivan allegedly took her upstairs and tried to initiate sex – with Florence attempting to resist by saying she was on her period and that her partner was waiting for her in the house.
But Sullivan pressed on anyway, she claims.
She said she would be forever ‘haunted’ by the image of Sullivan lifting his pinky into the air and saying: ‘It’s alright, I’ll only put it in a little bit,’ before penetrating her.
Florence said she was almost certain she was telling him she did not want to have intercourse, but could not say how loudly.
She claims that he promised she would be one of his ‘regular girls’ in his Sport newspapers if she had sex with him – and that she was indeed subsequently offered work.
His publishing career began in the early 1970s, when he ran a mail-order business supplying pornographic photos
She said she believes Sullivan’s alleged predatory behaviour went unchallenged for so long because was ‘untouchable’, adding: ‘He might not look it on paper, but my God, is that man powerful.’
Sullivan, who once described himself as a ‘collector of women, like some people collect stamps’, was a titanic figure for anyone hoping to crack the glamour modelling industry in the 1990s.
He began selling photographs of topless women in the 1970s through a mail-order business from an east London warehouse.
This soon progressed into selling pornographic magazines and, in 1973, Sullivan pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiring to publish and post obscene materials.
But Sullivan was undeterred, and his porn empire rapidly expanded, until by the end of the decade he was selling more than a million porn magazines each month.
He went on to launch Sunday Sport in 1986 – which featured topless models on many of the pages, among sensational tabloid stories – and later Daily Sport after enjoying enormous success.
A notorious feature of his newspapers was the ‘Countdown to 16’, which chronicled the number of days until a schoolgirl’s 16th birthday, and then pictured her topless when the day arrived.
In his resignation statement, Sullivan said: ‘I have recently become aware that factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life are due to be broadcast and published.
‘The false allegations levelled against me have been sensationalised by the media. After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.
‘I categorically deny these claims.
‘I am a private man, and those who personally and professionally know the real David Sullivan, not the caricature invented by the tabloids, know exactly who I am and what I stand for. I am absolutely not the person the media has decided to paint me as.
‘I have not been provided with any proper explanation as to how these individuals or their claims were independently verified or assessed for credibility prior to publication. I believe that the entire process has been fundamentally unfair and completely lacking in any due impartiality.
‘I will be suing the BBC for libel, along with any other media outlet that repeats any libelous allegations.’
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