Angus Stickler, the journalist behind the disastrous Newsnight programme implicating Lord McAlpine with child sex abuse claims, has resigned from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
He becomes the second BIJ casualty from the Newsnight story following the resignation of his former editor Iain Overton.
The Newsnight report broadcast on 2 November, which saw Stickler seconded to the show, wrongly suggested that a leading Conservative politician from the Thatcher era was involved in child abuse at a north Wales children’s home.
The source withdrew the claim shortly after the report was aired but not before Lord McAlpine was widely – and wrongly – named online as the individual involved.
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The peer later won a £185,000 settlement from the corporation.
Rachel Oldroyd, the bureau’s acting editor, said in an email to The Times that Stickler had “resigned from the bureau and his resignation has been accepted”.
An internal investigation by the BIJ concluded that it was not responsible for the Newsnight report of 2 November, though the organisation did expressed regret for seconding Stickler to the programme without retaining editorial control.
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