'Deplorable' – but Ross keeps his job

Lewd calls made by the BBC presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to the actor Andrew Sachs were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification", the BBC Trust ruled yesterday.

Ross will keep his job and escape further punishment over the affair after the trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said he supported the presenter's 12-week suspension. The 48-year-old will therefore return to his £6m-a-year position at the BBC in January, when his suspension is complete.

Details also emerged yesterday of the approval granted to the contentious recording by the Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas, who resigned from her £280,000 position over the affair.

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Ms Douglas, 45, who sent a one-word email from her BlackBerry, "Yes", in answer to a question about whether the show should be broadcast, did so despite not having heard it. She did so on the recommendation by email of Dave Barber, Radio 2's head of compliance, who described it as "very funny".

The trust, which came into effect last year to ensure licence fee-payers get value for money, said a list of "high-risk" programmes should be drawn up.

On the night of Saturday 18 October, in a show taped two days before, Brand and Ross left four messages on the voicemail of Sachs – who played Manuel in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers – in which Brand related his former relations with Sachs's granddaughter, 23-year-old Georgina Baillie. In the first message, Ross told Sachs, 78, "he [Brand] fucked your granddaughter".

In its report, the trust criticised a further incident, when Ross, on his Friday night BBC1 show, told the actress Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her".

The trust called the remark "gratuitous and unnecessarily offensive". Separately, the trust called on senior management to investigate remarks by Brand on the Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles' show. On 21 October, three days after the initial Radio 2 broadcast, Brand, in conversation with Moyles, abrasively described his affair with Ms Baillie.

Radio 2 broadcast an apology for the 18 October broadcast on 9 November. But a previous apology on Radio 2 by Brand, on 25 October, was condemned by the BBC trustee Richard Tait as "unacceptable" and "exacerbated the intrusion into privacy and the offence". Mr Tait noted three failures – failure to exercise editorial control, to follow established compliance systems, and failure of judgement in editorial decisions. He added that the trust was nevertheless satisfied with the BBC's response to the controversy.

Sir Michael resisted pressure to call for further BBC action against Ross or Brand. "It is not the job of the trust to make decisions about terms and conditions of performers," he said. "There is a slippery slope. It starts with comedians and ends with making judgements about who presents the news."

Sachs' wife Melody said: "Andrew has got nothing to say. Whatever they do, they do, but we are so tired of it all."

Ms Baillie said she was "happy" with the Trust's findings. "It is time to draw a line under the matter and move on."

*The governing body of the BBC has rejected plans for BBC Local, the corporation's proposed online local video service. A £68m network of local websites was rejected by the BBC Trust because it would not offer the necessary value to the public.It was the first time the trust has rejected a major BBC initiative.

The crucial emails How Radio 2 boss approved broadcast

This is a transcript of the email exchange between Dave Barber, the head of compliance at Radio 2, and Lesley Douglas, the Radio 2 controller, about Brand’s programme on 18 October.

On 16 October, Barber wrote to Douglas: “Russell is pre-recorded this week with Jonathan Ross as his co-host. Jonathan uses the F-word 52mins into the first hour in a sequence about Russell ‘fucking’ Andrew Sachs’s granddaughter. They are speaking into Andrew Sachs’s answer machine at the time, and it’s very funny – there then follow more calls to the answer phone in the second hour, again v funny. Having discussed it with the producer and listened to the sequence, I think we should keep in and put a ‘strong language’ warning at the top of the hour. I think it is editorially justified in this context and certainly within audience expectations for Russell’s show and the slot. Certainly preferable to bleeping, which would make it obvious anyway (and we don’t bleep now for this reason). Jonathan also apologises and Russell’s shocked reaction is hilarious. Andrew Sachs is aware and is happy with the results, which were recorded his end for him to hear. Are you happy with this as a plan of action?”

On 17 October, 12.22pm, Douglas responded to Barber: “Yes.”