A young person has told BBC News that the senior presenter who allegedly paid a teenager for explicit images sent them abusive messages.
The young person — who has no connection to the teenager who allegedly received payment for explicit images — claimed they met the male presenter on a dating app, but never met.
After connecting on the dating app, they started talking on other platforms. It was at this point the presenter revealed his identity, and told the young person, who is in their early 20s, to keep it a secret.
When the individual suggested online that they might name the presenter, they allegedly received “abusive, expletive-filled messages”.
The young person told BBC News the threatening messages frightened them, and they remain scared of the presenter.
BBC News said it had seen and verified the alleged threatening messages, and also confirmed the texts were sent from a phone number belonging to the presenter.
It said it contacted the presenter directly and through his lawyer, but hasn’t received a response to the latest allegations.
The new claims come days after The Sun reported that a “well-known” male presenter allegedly paid a teenager more than £35,000 (AUD$67,177) for sexually explicit images in 2020.
The mother of the alleged victim told the tabloid the payments began when her child was 17, and they used the money to buy drugs.
But the saga took a turn on Monday, when Britain’s public broadcaster said it had received a letter from the alleged victim’s lawyer, now 20, advising the allegations made in The Sun were “rubbish”.
“Nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality,” they said, per ABC News.
In response, The Sun said: “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.”
According to a timeline published by the broadcaster, a member of the alleged victim’s family went to the BBC on May 18 to complain about the presenter’s behaviour.
The next day, they called BBC Audience Services, which then referred the complaint to the BBC Corporate Investigations Unit.
The Unit said they tried contacting the complainant on two separate occasions, via phone and email, but both attempts were unsuccessful.
No further attempts to contact the alleged victim’s family were made, the broadcaster said.
On July 6, seven weeks after the first complaint was made to the broadcaster, The Sun contacted the BBC with allegations which were different from those received by the Corporate Investigations Unit, the BBC said.
It said this was the first time BBC director-general Tim Davie or any executive directors heard about the allegations.
A senior manager spoke to the presenter about the allegations, and it was agreed that they wouldn’t appear on air while the matter was being investigated.
The BBC confirmed on Sunday that the presenter has been suspended, but his identity has not been revealed.
Several BBC presenters, such as Rylan Clark and Jeremy Vine, released statements to Twitter denying they were the unnamed presenter.
Image credit: Lucy North / PA Images via Getty Images
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