Staff at UK's largest Pride event allege bullying and misconduct under sacked CEO

Leaders of the UK's largest Pride festival failed to act for years on complaints about alleged bullying and misconduct by its former boss, a BBC News investigation has heard.

Current and former volunteers have alleged that during Christopher Joell-Deshields' leadership of Pride in London (PIL), they witnessed a director's company credit card being used for a holiday to Mykonos, "questionable" financial decisions, and a lack of transparency over his £87,500 salary.

We are reporting the details of our investigation as a protracted civil battle between PIL and its former CEO Joell-Deshields, who was sacked earlier this month, draws to a close.

The 55-year-old is due to be sentenced later this year after admitting two counts of contempt of court for failing to comply with a legal order to hand back company property, including access to bank accounts and internal systems.

He did not admit contempt in relation to an accusation he failed to return a company laptop, which he says was bought for him personally. PIL are not pursuing this claim.

Lawyers for PIL had argued he withheld the property in order to "frustrate" an internal investigation into separate allegations he spent thousands of pounds worth of vouchers - which were donated by a sponsor for volunteers - on items for personal use including luxury perfumes and Apple gadgets.

Joell-Deshields has been approached for comment.

In a statement, PIL said it was "committed to upholding the highest standards of governance, accountability and integrity".

PIL is one of the world's largest and most high-profile annual Prides - featuring a parade, a festival in Trafalgar Square and several fringe events - and is largely funded through corporate sponsorships.

It costs more than £1.3m to stage each year and attracts almost two million visitors to the UK capital, with this year's parade due to take place on 4 July. PIL relies on more than 800 on-the-day volunteers and 120 year-round volunteers.

Its leadership and public funders now face questions about whether they failed to act on repeated warnings about governance, finance and workplace culture.

Some of the senior PIL figures who were made aware of complaints under Joell-Deshields' tenure still work there today, including interim chief executive Rebecca Paisis whom he hired in 2023.

Also under scrutiny is Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's office, the Greater London Authority (GLA), which awards PIL an £125,000 grant each year. BBC News has learnt that up to £100,000 in additional taxpayers' money was given to PIL while the Joell-Deshields legal case was ongoing.

A spokesperson for the Mayor said the pride movement has had a "powerful impact" on helping the city become a "beacon of inclusiveness" and that the funding it receives has been through a "rigorous" due diligence process.

Former volunteers, who mostly asked to remain anonymous, say concerns about Joell-Deshields' leadership pre-date the recent legal action by several years.

Asked to sum up their concerns, one told us: "It just felt like the community was pushed to the side and it shifted into a commercial venture to inflate the egos of those in charge."

Some volunteers said his appointment raised "red flags" from the outset, as his job was not advertised externally.

He became the only remaining PIL board member in 2021, when all other board members and community advisers resigned following allegations of institutional racism.

Former volunteer manager Simon Taverner told us "it didn't feel right" that Joell-Deshields "emerged from the wreckage of mass resignations to be the last person standing".

After taking over the organisation, Joell-Deshields led a restructure which saw him go from an unpaid volunteer chair to a chief executive paid more than £80,000 a year, making him the first paid leader in the organisation's history - and its first ever CEO.

Insiders have told the BBC they questioned the transparency of the decision, which was decided by Joell-Deshields and three other directors without the job being advertised.

Some say they were uncomfortable with the timing of the announcement. It came just weeks after Pride in London received a £625,000 grant from the GLA to help deliver events between 2023 and 2027.

Within weeks of the grant being signed off, two other director roles were advertised with a £60,000 salary, plus a 10% performance-related bonus. One of those two directors was Paisis, who is now PIL's interim CEO.

Following the restructure, PIL was spending more than £200,000 a year on its CEO and two directors. That "didn't sit well" with Rob Millwood, former deputy director of operations.

"Traditionally, if nobody was taking a salary, that amount would've been able to pay for the majority of the parade to take place," he told the BBC.

Pride in London told the BBC that the GLA is aware that the size and scale of the event "requires a small number of full-time employed roles, alongside 120 core-team volunteers."

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said the funding was "subject to the GLA's rigorous due diligence processes."

£2,600 holiday to Mkyonos

The volunteers who contacted us also alleged that under Joell-Deshields' leadership, Pride in London's finances were poorly managed, incurring thousands of pounds of penalties for late tax payments and late submission of accounts. We have seen copies of HM Revenue and Customs accounts which show the organisation paid more than £9,000 in late fees in 2025.

And almost all of the volunteers who spoke to us said they felt Joell-Deshields' tenure created an environment where alleged serious misconduct could go seemingly unpunished.

Bills seen by the BBC show that a PIL credit card registered to Simon Jones, the former events director under Joell-Deshields, was used to spend more than £2,600 on a holiday to Mykonos in August 2022.

Internal emails, shared by multiple sources, suggest that at the time the payments were made, Jones had already used his company card for more than £300 of personal spending.

The emails also suggest that invoices for the outstanding amounts on the credit card had gone unpaid and the issues were repeatedly being flagged with Joell-Deshields.

It led to an anonymous volunteer briefly leaking the credit card statements online in November 2022. Bosses then sent an internal memo to volunteers stressing the allegations were being taken "extremely seriously".

When Taverner, the former volunteer manager, emailed the HR director to question whether the board was best placed to investigate one of its own members, he was sacked.

Others volunteers have told the BBC that the "toxic" work environment meant they were often too worried to raise concerns about Joell-Deshields because of what they described as a "bullying culture" created by the former boss. BBC News has seen a number of resignation emails which reference bullying.

There are conflicting reports over whether any of the personal spending using the PIL credit card was ever repaid, with several volunteers telling the BBC they saw no evidence it had been recouped by the organisation.

However, a source at Pride in London said the current board "understands that appropriate enquiries were made" and that the money spent in Mykonos was eventually paid back.

When Jones resigned in December 2022, an email announcement - which did not reference any financial allegations - was sent by the leadership, thanking Jones for "his hard work and commitment" and celebrating him for helping to "grow and deliver pride events successfully over the years".

Simon Jones declined to comment.

During Joell-Deshields' time as director of community engagement at Pride in London, he oversaw the awarding of a £5,000 grant to a community interest company called Black Trans Alliance.

Several former volunteers said the decision had "awful" optics, after it became clear the company had been founded by Joell-Deshields and his partner just two weeks after the grants scheme, called the Unity Fund, was announced in the press.

One told the BBC: "It felt wrong. Whether it was wrong, I don't know. It may be that it was the best bid for those funds but the optics were awful. It's not the way things are done."

We have seen evidence that Black Trans Alliance is still soliciting donations from the public, despite being struck off by Companies House in 2025 for failing to submit its accounts.

The BBC has also seen several complaints made to Pride in London's regulator, the Regulator for Community Interest Companies, about Black Trans Alliance, and the donation made from Pride in London funds.

A spokesperson for the regulator told BBC News its policy is neither to confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation, nor make public the outcome of any investigation that may have taken place.

Lawyers for Pride in London have also previously accused Joell-Deshields of using confidential information obtained during his time as chief executive to launch a rival, commercial pride organisation.

The organisation, Capital Pride London, was formed less than two weeks after Joell-Deshields' was suspended, and while he was still in receipt of his Pride in London salary.

Capital Pride London's website promises "a powerful demonstration and a joyful celebration for all" and welcomes donations from members of the public.

People who donated have shared bank statements with BBC News showing the Capital Pride London account was linked to Joell-Deshields' personal phone number.

A number of images and samples of text from its website indicated evidence of AI generation or manipulation, analysis by BBC Verify suggests. The use of AI-generated images has led some to accuse the site of being misleading.

The Charity Commission, the regulator for charities in the UK, confirmed it had received an application to register an organisation called Capital Pride London C.I.O as a charity.

PIL's bid to host World Pride in 2032 - an international pride event that usually involves a larger parade, human rights conferences and millions of visitors - suggests the organisation believes it can leave the Joell-Deshields controversy behind.

But some whistleblowers are sceptical - they feel the bid is mistimed and could mean the organisation is overstretched.

It faces ongoing challenges, including the cost of legal action and the potential impact of adverse publicity on both commercial sponsorships and volunteer numbers. PIL relies on more than 800 on-the-day volunteers and 120 year-round volunteers with specialisms such as PR, finance or IT.

Its new interim chief executive Paisis is confident this year's pride will go ahead as normal and has vowed to introduce "new governance structures… to ensure Pride in London operates at the highest standards".

Millwood told us he was concerned there was too much "crossover" between the previous leadership team and the new leadership team tasked with implementing changes at the organisation.

"They were present during the situations that have occurred regarding financial anomalies or poor governance," he said.

He added that the new bosses "may now be trying to act in a better, more structured way but at the time, they were present and made aware of it".

A Pride in London spokesperson told us it was in the process of increasing the size of the board of directors, including a company secretary and a chair of the board.

Questions also remain for the Mayor of London's office.

The BBC is aware of a number of complaints sent to Sadiq Khan, calling for the Mayor to personally intervene to safeguard the future of the event for the LGBTQ+ community.

The additional funding of up to £100,000 for the World Pride bid, given to PIL during its legal battle with Joell-Deshields, will likely only intensify questions around due diligence.

The GLA told the BBC it will "continue to work closely with the organisation and Pride in London's new Interim CEO as they develop a new governance structure and deliver this year's event."

It all comes at a time when pride events up and down the country say they're struggling financially, with a number of high-profile prides being scaled back or cancelled because of a slump in corporate sponsorships.

How reforms are implemented in PIL and how its new leadership navigates the next year and beyond, will be crucial to the London event's future success.