Scott Mills is set to have his Honorary Doctorate of Arts stripped by Southampton Solent University. The former BBC Radio 2 DJ received the prestigious accolade in November 2009, but the academic institution's Honorary Doctorate Scrutiny Panel are now set to convene to deliberate on the matter, with senior figures recommending the distinguished honour be withdrawn. A source told the Mirror: "The committee will meet later this month. It will be recommended that the honorary doctorate be rescinded."

He added: "It was new information quite recently we received that made it very clear the decision we had to make." Pressed about when the BBC became aware there was an issue, Davie said: "I think people need to look at the statement; we made it as clear as we can. We obviously have to be sensitive when you've got personal information, and we work carefully through it, but the statement is really clear." The Mirror exclusively disclosed earlier this week that Mills had been dismissed and revealed how he was interviewed in 2018 concerning historical allegations of serious sexual offences. The inquiry was concluded in 2019 after the CPS determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges.

This followed the Met Police launching an inquiry into Mills in December 2016. According to the Met, a referral was submitted by another force regarding allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy, which purportedly occurred between 1997 and 2000.

At the time of the inquiry, Mills was aged in his 40s. The first of the alleged incidents happened when he was approximately 24 years old and still working at Heart FM.

Twelve months later, he joined the team at BBC Radio One. The Metropolitan Police has confirmed to the Mirror that the teenage boy at the centre of the inquiry was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged offences.

The scandal has since intensified, as it's emerged that the BBC was aware of the police investigation back in 2017. In a statement, the corporation confirmed: "We can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made. We are doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time."