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Multi-award-winning BBC investigative journalist Tony Smith has announced he has departed the broadcaster after almost three decades. Taking to X he wrote: "Heading off into the sunset. Some personal news. After 29 years, today is my last day at BBC News. It's been amazing but the offer of redundancy was too good to turn down - and it felt like a good time to try something new. Not sure what comes next - watch this space." "Sorry to hear that, but I expect you will have fun on the other side!" One of his followers wrote in response to the news. "Comes to us all, Tony. Best wishes for the future," another penned.

Tony began his BBC career in 1997 as a journalist on the News Channel. In his first decade working for them, he reported from all over the world, including Africa, Asia and the Americas. He also won a Royal Television Society (RTS) Home News Award for a story on Racism in Northern Ireland.

In 2010 he was promoted to Senior Broadcast Journalist - a role which would see him cover monumental events such as Brexit and Covid.

He also accompanied the Prime Minister on trips to China, Europe and the USA, and reported from Ukraine and the Middle East. He won a second RTS award for a short story on the death of teenager Molly Russell

Since 2019 he focused on special reports and investigations, primarily for the 6pm and 10pm television news.

However he also wrote for the BBC website, produced programming for BBC radio and content for BBC social media accounts.

His ground-breaking investigations into online harms and the tech industry led to questions in Parliament and changes in the law.

He took a brief six-month sabbatical from the BBC during the pandemic in order to train and support volunteers for the Shout mental health crisis text service.

Having volunteered for the service for many years he said: "This was an opportunity to take on a paid role, responsible for the training, support and wellbeing of more than 100 volunteers."

Outside the BBC he has also worked as an occasional guest lecturer at Falmouth University focusing on investigative journalism.