A LAWYER representing the young person at the heart of a scandal involving an unnamed BBC presenter has branded the whole story “rubbish”.
Speaking through a lawyer, the person who reportedly sold pictures to a “household name” BBC host hit out at the reports which first surfaced in the Sun on Friday.
They claimed to have sent a denial to the paper the same day the story was published, saying there was “no truth” in their own mother’s allegations.
The lawyer’s letter, sent to the BBC, said: "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."
The Sun has claimed to have a dossier of evidence, provided by the family in question.
A spokesperson for the paper 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.”
On Monday, police held a meeting with the BBC and said it would conduct further enquiries.
However, it was clear that there was no investigation “yet”.
It comes after a male member of BBC staff was suspended following claims that he paid a young person around £35,000 over three years, from the age of 17, for explicit images.
The BBC said it had been investigating a complaint since May, and that new claims of a “different nature” were brought to it on Thursday.
As well as being in touch with the police, the corporation is carrying out its own inquiries and talking to the young person’s family.
BBC director-general Tim Davie (below) is due to face the media on Tuesday for a scheduled briefing following the release of the corporation’s annual report.
In a note to staff on Sunday, he said: “The BBC became aware of a complaint in May; the BBC investigations team have been looking into this since it was raised and have been actively following up.
“New allegations, of a different nature, were put to us on Thursday, and, in addition to our own inquiries, we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols.
“I can also confirm that we have suspended a member of staff.”
The teenager’s mother told The Sun newspaper she saw a picture of the presenter on her child’s phone “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear”.
The mother said she was told it was “a picture from some kind of video call” and looked like he was “getting ready for my child to perform for him”.
Gary Lineker, Rylan Clark, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell are among the BBC stars to have publicly stated that they are not the presenter in question.
