FEMALE BBC newsreaders say they were “broken” after missing out on top jobs thanks to a “rigged” BBC, a tribunal has heard.

Martine Croxall is among several female journalists who failed to land a chief presenter role when the World Service merged with BBC domestic news channels last year.

She arrived at the Central London Employment Tribunal for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday flanked by presenting colleagues Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh.

They accuse the corporation of age and sex “discrimination” over the way the BBC handled the recruitment process.

They are also making equal pay claims against their employer.

BBC bosses – who pulled the four off air after they made the claims – were said to have rejected the allegations after an internal review took place

Speaking at the hearing, Ms Croxall had claimed “discrimination” was “baked in” to the BBC’s pay structures and that she brought her case to tribunal because the BBC “grinds you down and breaks you”.

She blasted: “This was because of a sham recruitment exercise where our jobs were closed even though the redundancies were not genuine as the work still exists.

“A whistleblower statement will show recruitment in Jan 2023 of BBC News Chief presenters was rigged.

“This led to the five of us losing our jobs and being kept off air for a year, when we challenged the process.”

In her original 2023 claim form, it is alleged that just before the July 2022 BBC shakeup, channel manager Jess Brammar “privately assured” two men and two “younger” women their jobs were ‘safe’. 

Ms Croxall added: “No men and no women younger than us suffered these detriments.”

It is understood the group claimed BBC managers had already decided who’d get the jobs before they even applied.

In Ms Croxall’s statement, similar to the other three women, she claimed the group also suffered “harassment” with a “hostile, degrading, intimidating environment in the workplace”.

She said this caused “ill health” and “reputational damage”.

It was also claimed four of the women were demoted and three faced sizeable pay cuts.

One was said to have had “her pay cut for half of her job”.

Ms Croxall told the hearing she was paid £139,000 and had been through three pay disputes with the BBC.

The case is understood to have originally included Geeta Guru-Murthy, but she has now appeared to have withdrawn from it.

Following new vacancies at the channel, Ms McVeigh is understood to have both taken chief presenter roles and appeared on air.

The BBC declined to comment.

The tribunal comes in the wake of the high-profile gender pay dispute between the BBC and Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed.

In 2020 a London employment tribunal found that Ms Ahmed should have been paid the same as fellow presenter Jeremy Vine for their work on Newswatch and Points Of View respectively.

The BBC had argued the pair were not doing similar work.

Broadcaster Sarah Montague also previously confirmed she had won a £400,000 settlement and an apology from the BBC over unequal treatment.

In 2021 the BBC disclosed it had spent more than £1 million on legal fees fighting equal pay and race discrimination cases brought by staff.