Former BBC Radio presenter Scott Mills was interviewed by police following the drug-related death of his boyfriend more than two decades ago, it has emerged. Mills recalled in his book that on the night of Mitch’s death, Mitch was ‘the funniest, most handsome bloke with the loveliest family.’
Mitchell Berger, aged 21, was discovered unconscious alongside two other men at a flat in Holborn, central London, in March 2000, on the night of the Brit Awards. While paramedics managed to revive the others, Mr Berger could not be saved and was later pronounced dead from an overdose.
Officers subsequently recovered an address book belonging to Mr Berger which contained contact details for Mills, who at the time was 26 and working backstage on his early morning Radio 1 programme during the awards ceremony.
The pair had reportedly been in a relationship for around ten months. In his 2012 autobiography, Love You, Bye: My Story, Mills described Mr Berger, who worked in a Soho gay bar, as “the funniest, most handsome bloke with the loveliest family.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Mr Berger’s death was not treated as suspicious. However, Mills was interviewed as part of routine enquiries.
Writing about the night he learned of the tragedy, Mills recalled being woken by a call from police waiting to speak with him. He described a moment of disbelief upon being told of his partner’s death, saying the news left him numb and struggling to process what had happened.
The couple had recently returned from a two-week holiday in Miami, which Mills later described as one of the happiest periods of his life.
In the aftermath, Mills said he fell into a period of heavy drinking and depression. He publicly came out as gay the following year, reflecting later that grief had profoundly affected his mental health and daily life.
Separately, it was revealed that Mills was interviewed under caution by police in 2018 in connection with allegations of historical sexual offences. The investigation, launched in 2016, examined claims relating to a teenage boy under 17 years, and formed part of wider inquiries linked to Operation Yewtree. It has now come to light that the case was discontinued by the CPS in 2019.
‘A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.’ –— Metropolitan Police on Scott Mills Investigation
According to police, the alleged offences were said to have taken place between 1997 and 2000. A file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which concluded that the evidential threshold required to bring charges had not been met. The case was formally closed in May 2019.
The developments follow Mills’ recent dismissal from BBC Radio 2 over matters relating to his personal conduct.
