The Evans / Virgin Radio court debackle continues this week, where Evans continues to fight Virgin Radio who, he claims, owe him £8 million in share options after they abruptly fired him in 2001. Last week Virgin claimed that Evans, who they say couldn't cope after he ceased to be the boss at the station, had left management with no choice but to fire him after repeatedly attacking bosses in public, messing around with sponsored features on air, abruptly sacking half his production team and then, finally, disappearing for ten days claiming to be ill while being seen partying round London.
They claim Evans breached his contract on a number of occasions justifying his sacking and voiding his pay off claims. But Evans' legal people, who say Evans was forced to take leave from the show because of the stress the station was putting him under, are now claiming Virgin Radio had been conspiring to get rid of Evans long before the alleged 'sickie'. They claim station boss Paul Jackson, who took the top job at the station shortly before Evans' sacking, had been looking to remove Evans from the minute he was offered the job, and that he had been courting Steve Penk, who he had worked with while at Capital, as a replacement months before Evans was fired.
Yesterday Evans' lawyer said a Virgin insider had claimed Jackson had been speaking to jingle makers in LA about making 'Steve Penk Breakfast Show' jingles while still on 'gardening leave' between working at Capital and Virgin. They also quoted reports by senior managers at Virgin's parent company Scottish Media Group from May 2001 which said they were happy with Evans' breakfast show and that, while they knew upcoming production team changes may affect short term listening figures, they were confident for the long term success of the show.
Evans' representatives want to prove that Virgin Radio's claims that the sudden no-show was the "last straw" aren’t true, and that Jackson simply used Evans' stress induced absence as an excuse to axe his show. The next move on the case may depend on the evidence of Ian Grace, a radio consultant. Evans' people claim Jackson, Grace and other station bosses met prior to Jackson’s official appointment at the station, and at that meeting Jackson said he did not want to work with Evans. Jackson denies this, saying one of the attractions of taking the Virgin job was the opportunity to work with Evans.
Judge Justice Lightman now wants Grace, who lives in Australia, to give evidence – by video link if necessary. It seems his evidence – ie did Jackson admit to wanting rid of Evans from the word go? - may be the make or break of the case.