THE BBC has apologised to an academy after it broadcast false allegations regarding the sale of school land.

BBC Essex broadcast their apology to the Legra Trust, which runs Cecil Jones Academy in Eastern Avenue, Southend, on Ben Fryer and Jodie Halford's breakfast radio show on Tuesday morning.

The BBC's story, originally published and broadcast on October 17 last year, made claims that the trust's sale of the site's lower school in 2017 may not have benefitted the pupils of the academy, including one from former teacher David Moffitt who said it put pupils at a "serious disadvantage".

The trust always maintained the funds from the sale were spent on the academy.

In the breakfast show on Tuesday, Ben Fryer said: "On October 17 last year in this programme we broadcast a number of allegations about the conduct of the Legra Trust and the Cecil Jones Academy. We would like to make it clear that those allegations were untrue.

"We apologise for the error in broacasting those allegations and are very sorry for any distress we may have casued anyone from the Legra Trust or Cecil Jones Academy."