Teen denied their mother's claims against BBC presenter before story published
The young person at the centre of the BBC presenter scandal has disputed claims made against an unnamed star.
A lawyer acting on behalf of the 20-year-old denies the allegations presented to The Sun by their mother and told the BBC today how the young person rubbished the claims to the newspaper prior to publication on Friday night.
In response, The Sun says it has "seen evidence that supports" concerns raised by the young person's mother and her "complaint was not acted upon by the BBC."
On Friday [July 7], The Sun reported an unidentified BBC presenter allegedly paid a teenager more than £35,000 for sexually explicit pictures.
It was claimed an unnamed star at the national broadcaster has been accused of handing over cash sums in return for explicit images from the teenager when they were 17-years-old.
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness
In an additional report, the mother of the anonymous accuser alleged the unnamed BBC presenter stripped to his underwear during a video call with her then teenage child. The woman claims she initially raised concerns with the corporation in May after the BBC presenter sent £5,000 in one transaction for sexually explicit photographs of their child.
On Sunday, the BBC confirmed a male member of staff had been suspended following the reports first emerging on Friday. However, the letter from the young person's lawyer now potentially throws some doubt on the initial story.
Katie Razzall, the BBC's culture and media editor, writes on the BBC website: "We received this letter late this afternoon and it makes key claims that, if true, potentially throws some doubt on the story that was on the front pages throughout the weekend.
"It's a letter from a lawyer who says he represents the young person at the centre of the allegations and he says the young person sent a denial to the Sun newspaper on Friday evening, before publication, by WhatsApp, to tell them the statement their mother made about them was 'totally wrong and there was no truth in it'.
"Nonetheless the Sun newspaper proceeded to publish what the lawyer and the client called 'their inappropriate article'.
"The letter from the lawyer also says: 'For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are 'rubbish'."
In a statement issued to the BBC this afternoon, The Sun responded: "We have reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child.
"Their complaint was not acted upon by the BBC. We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It’s now for the BBC to properly investigate."
When announcing the suspension of a male presenter on Sunday, the BBC said: "The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.
"This is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps. It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care.
Bird charity banned from Twitter for repeatedly posting woodcock photos
"We have been clear that if - at any point - new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up.
"The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May. New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own enquiries, we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols. We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended.
"We expect to be in a position to provide a further update in the coming days as the process continues. The BBC Board will continue to be kept up to date."
Over the weekend, a number of BBC stars took to social media to deny being the mystery presenter amid online speculation about who it could be, with Rylan Clark, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell issuing statements via their respective Twitter accounts.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
