UPDATED: The ongoing BBC scandal has become murkier after a second young person has spoken out about the top presenter currently under the scanner.
A young person in their early 20s told BBC News that they were initially approached by the presenter anonymously on a dating app and pressured to meet up, but didn’t. The conversation then moved to other platforms where the identity of the presenter was revealed. When the young person hinted at naming the presenter, “they were sent abusive, expletive-filled messages,” BBC News said.
“They had been scared by the power the presenter held,” BBC News said, adding that “the threats made in the messages had frightened them – and they remain scared.”
BBC News said they had contacted the presenter directly and via his lawyer but received no response to the allegations.
BBC News has verified that the messages were sent from a phone number belonging to the presenter.
PvNew has reached out to the BBC for comment.
Meanwhile, U.K. tabloid The Sun has claimed that the presenter broke lockdown rules “to meet a young stranger from a dating site” in February 2021 and that it would be handing its evidence over to the BBC.
PREVIOUSLY: The BBC has paused its investigation into allegations that a top BBC presenter paid a teenager for explicit photographs after being asked to by the London Metropolitan Police.
Speaking at a press briefing held to discuss the corporation’s annual report, BBC director general Tim Davie said: “Clearly, any affair of this nature is serious in terms of the BBC and its reputation. Trust is absolutely fundamental to the BBC.”
“We constantly need as the BBC, and with myself and our senior team, to be seen to be navigating what are complex, fast moving issues with care and diligence and doing that properly and calmly. And if we do that, then I have faith that people will see that the BBC as an institution is precious, and doing the right thing,” Davie added.
In addition, the BBC said in a statement on Tuesday: “Yesterday, 10 July, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team had a meeting with the Metropolitan Police in relation to information provided to the BBC by The Sun newspaper on Thursday 6 July. As a result of this meeting, the BBC has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations while the police scope future work.
We know that questions have been asked about how the complaint was initially managed, so today we have published an update that sets out key dates [see below] and some additional information that we are currently able to share.
The BBC has processes and protocols for receiving information and managing complaints when they are first made. We always take these matters extremely seriously and seek to manage them with the appropriate duty of care.
The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is that they are handled with the utmost diligence and care.
There will, of course, be lessons to be learned following this exercise. Although the current issues has not yet been fully resolved, the director General has asked Leigh Tavaziva, the BBC’s group chief operating officer, to assess whether our protocols and procedures are appropriate in light of this case, and report to the BBC board on this in due course.”
The scandal emerged last Friday when U.K. tabloidThe Sun published a storyalleging that a top BBC presenter paid a teenager more than £35,000 ($44,500) since they were 17 in exchange for explicit photographs.
While 17 is over the age of sexual consent, under the U.K.’s Protection of Children Act 1978 it is a crime to take, make, share and possess indecent images of people under 18 and the the maximum sentence for the offence is 10 years.
On Saturday,fresh allegations emerged in the tabloidthat the presenter stripped to their underwear for a video call. The Sun wrote, quoting the alleged victim’s mother who claimed to have seen the presenter on her child’s phone: “leaning forward, getting ready for my child to perform for him.”
The mother’s claims are in a sworn affidavit provided to The Sun, the tabloid said, adding that the young person’s family complained to the BBC on May 19.
On Sunday, the BBC suspended a male member of staff over the matter.
However, on Monday, a lawyer representing the young person dismissed the claims made by the mother as “rubbish.” Responding to this, The Sun said that the young person’s parents are standing by their statement.
BBC TIMELINE:
- On 18 May, the complainant (a family member) attended a BBC building, where they sought to make a complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter.
- On 19 May, the complainant contacted BBC Audience Services; the details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team.
- On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services. The assessment made was that on the basis of the information provided it did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation.
- On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team emailed the complainant stating how seriously the BBC takes the issue and seeking additional information to verify the claims being made; there was no response to this contact.
- On 19 May, checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant. This is a standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are.
- On 6 June, having received no response to the email referenced above, a phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team; this call did not connect.
- Following these attempts to make contact with the complainant, the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks. No additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June, however the case remained open throughout.
- On 6 July, The Sun newspaper informed the BBC via the Corporate Press Office of allegations concerning a BBC presenter; it became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family as approached the BBC on 18 and 19 May. This was the first time that the Director-General or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.
- The claims made by The Sun contained new allegations, that were different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations.
- On 6 July, the BBC initiated an incident management group to lead the response to this case, involving senior BBC executives including the Director-General. The Acting Chairman was updated, and the Board was regularly updated in the coming days.
- On 6 July, a senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned, to make him aware of the claims being outlined by The Sun. It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.
- On 7 July, following The Sun’s contact, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations team contacted the complainant again, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators.
- On 7 July, the BBC’s Serious Case Management framework (SCMF) was initiated and the investigation being undertaken by the Corporate Investigations Team was brought into the SCMF, which is chaired by a Human Resources Director.
- On 7 July the BBC also made contact with the Police with regard to this matter.
- On 8 July and on 9 July the complainant sent the BBC some materials related to the complaint.
- On 9 July issued an update to staff and the media; the BBC also confirmed that it had suspended the presenter.
- On 10 July the BBC met with the Police, to report the matter and discuss how to progress the investigation. The Police have requested that the BBC pause its investigations into the allegations while they scope future work.
