The broadcaster aired claims that Mr Farage had ‘blood on his hands’ for the attack on Arkadiusz Jozwik, 40, because of his role in the EU referendum campaign
Nigel Farage has threatened to stop paying his TV licence unless the BBC apologises for a report linking him to the death of a Polish man shortly after the Brexit vote.
The broadcaster aired claims that Mr Farage had ‘blood on his hands’ for the attack on Arkadiusz Jozwik, 40, because of his role in the EU referendum campaign.
The Polish man was killed after he was punched in a head during a row with a teenager in a shopping centre in Harlow, Essex. He fell over and died two days later.
At the time reports claimed that the attack was racially motivated but a court has heard since that this was not the case.
However, Mr Farage said yesterday that he lived ‘in fear of reprisals’ because of the BBC’s coverage and lived in a ‘perpetual state of fear’.
Writing in the Telegraph, he said it ‘caused my family and me more misery than any other in my 25 years in politics’ and ‘opened the floodgates’ to a slew of other reports linking him to Mr Jowzik’s death.
The former UKIP leader was unable to ‘go out to buy a newspaper without abuse’, he said.
Mr Farage has now written to BBC director general Tony Hall demanding an apology for the broadcaster’s ‘shoddy journalism’.
‘I have written to him asking for an official apology for a terrible slur that was cast upon me, which I believe was encouraged by one of the Corporation’s senior reporters, John Sweeney, and then aired to the nation,’ he said.
‘If the apology is not forthcoming, I will have no option but to stop paying the BBC licence fee altogether… This is a test of whether the BBC really is the decent and fair public broadcaster it purports to be.’
The BBC vehemently defended its record, insisting that its coverage was ‘fairly reported’.
‘The BBC’s reporting reflected, like other media, that racial motivation was a line of inquiry the police were looking at and our coverage also featured vox-pops giving differing views including anti-social behaviour as a possibility,’ a spokesman said.
‘The BBC has already examined its reporting of Arkadiusz Jóźwik’s death concluding it was fairly reported, based on what was known and said at the time. We continue to report on Brexit impartially and fairly.’
A report on BBC2’s Newsnight a few days after the attack included an interview with Eric Hind, one of Mr Jozwik’s friends.
A report on BBC2’s Newsnight a few days after the attack included an interview with Eric Hind, one of Mr Jozwik’s friends
Prompted by Mr Sweeney to ‘mention names’, Mr Hines said: ‘Nigel Farage, I mean, thank you for that, because you are part of this death, and you’ve got blood on your hands, thanks to you, thanks for all your decisions, wherever you are.’
Mr Sweeney said in the report that Mr Farage denied the allegation – but the former UKIP leader said ‘the damage was done and this hugely irresponsible piece of journalism was aired’.
The 16-year-old behind the attack cannot be named for legal reasons but he has been sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution for manslaughter.
During the trial, the court heard that the crime was nothing to do with the Brexit vote.
In fact, it was Mr Jozwik and the friend who was with him at the time who made racist remarks and ‘invited’ violence, the defence claimed.