BBC asked to pause internal investigation into presenter 'explicit photos' allegations by Met Police

The BBC has been asked to pause its investigation into allegations a star presenter paid a teenager for explicit images by the police, the corporation has said.

The broadcaster - which held a virtual meeting with the Met on Monday (10 July) - said that this would allow the "police to scope future work". The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team met the force after The Sun reported that the unnamed presenter paid a young person around £35,000 over three years, from the age of 17, for explicit images.

The presenter has been suspended by the BBC and a review into the protocols and procedures around complaints has been ordered by the director-general Tim Davie. The circumstances of the case have been disputed by the young person at the centre of the allegations, who said “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” took place between them and the presenter.

What was alleged in the Sun?

On 7 July, the Sun published an article which alleged the top BBC star had been taken off air while the corporation investigates allegations he paid a teenager more than £35,000 for explicit images.

The alleged recipient’s mother said she saw a picture of the presenter on her child’s phone in which he was “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear” and she said she was told it was “a picture from some kind of video call”.

She claimed their child had used the cash to fund a crack habit, telling the paper: “When I see him on telly, I feel sick. I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life." She told the Sun that her child, now 20, had shown her an online bank statement that had numerous deposits from the presenter, and claimed he sent photos of himself at work.

Following the claims by the young person's lawyer that nothing inappropriate or illegal happened, the Sun told the BBC the paper had 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," it continued.

In a new interview with The Sun published after the young person's denial, the mum and step-father who made the initial claims to the newspaper said that they "stand by" their allegations.

What has the young person's lawyer said?

The young person at the centre of the BBC controversy said “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” took place between them and the presenter.

In a letter reported by BBC News At Six on Monday, a lawyer for the young person involved contested the claims against the presenter. “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’," it said.

The BBC reports the letter claimed the young person sent a denial to the Sun on Friday evening via WhatsApp, saying the statement their mother made to the newspaper was “totally wrong and there was no truth to it”. Nonetheless, the Sun newspaper proceeded to publish the "inappropriate article”, the letter said.

What has the BBC said?

In a statement shared with the PA news agency after the story broke, a BBC spokesperson said: “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 inquiries 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.”

The statement added that the corporation takes “any allegations seriously” and that it has “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”, the BBC added.

“It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care.

“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.”

Following the meeting with police on Monday, the a spokesperson said: "As a result of this meeting, the BBC has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations while the police scope future work.”

They added: “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."

What has the police said?

In a statement released on Monday (10 July) afternoon, Scotland Yard said: "Detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command met with representatives from the BBC on the morning of Monday, 10 July. The meeting took place virtually.

"They are assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further enquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed. There is no investigation at this time."

The BBC said the Met asked the corporation to pause its internal investigation to scope out further work.

Why are the identities hidden?

Questions have been asked why the name of the BBC star has not been published.

Media law experts have explained there was a big change to the way the media approached reporting after Sir Cliff Richard won a privacy case against the BBC over its coverage of a 2014 South Yorkshire Police raid on his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, after he was falsely accused of historical sex offences.

This was further entrenched when the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court, ruled that a person being investigated for a crime generally has “a reasonable expectation of privacy”.

The landmark Supreme Court judgment related to a breach of privacy claim by a US citizen known only as ZXC, who was the chief executive of a regional division of a company, referred to as X Ltd.

In the first case on the issue considered by the court last year, five justices dismissed an appeal brought by financial organisation Bloomberg over the publication of information about a person under investigation by a legal enforcement body prior to charge.

Over the years, several cases including that of ZXC and Sir Cliff have meant it has become much more difficult for the media to name people before they are charged with a criminal offence for fear of defamation and breaching privacy laws.

Similarly, BBC culture and media editor Katie Razzall has said the story is a “series of claims and counter claims” which have yet to be verified, which deters publishers from identifying the BBC presenter.

She said: “There are these discrepancies and I should point out we don’t have access to the full facts. We have seen little, apart from the letter from the lawyer representing the young person involved to the BBC yesterday evening.

“We haven’t seen any of The Sun’s evidence, any of the bank statements the family say they have and that they have shown the newspaper. As it stands we haven’t been able to verify any of this.”

BBC stars dismiss speculation

On Saturday (8 July), amidst speculation on social media, a number of BBC stars tweeted to say they were not the presenter at the centre of The Sun story.

Rylan Clark tweeted: “Not sure why my name’s floating about but re that story in the Sun – that ain’t me babe. I’m currently filming a show in Italy for the BBC, so take my name out ya mouths.”

Jeremy Vine tweeted: “Just to say I’m very much looking forward to hosting my radio show on Monday — whoever the ‘BBC Presenter’ in the news is, I have the same message for you as Rylan did earlier: it certainly ain’t me.”

Gary Lineker tweeted: “Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.”

Nicky Campbell appeared to suggest he had contacted police about being mentioned in connection with the story. He tweeted a screenshot which featured the Metropolitan Police logo and the words: “Thank you for contacting the Metropolitan Police Service to report your crime.”

In his tweet, he wrote: “I think it’s important to take a stand. There’s just too many of these people on social media. Thanks for your support friends.”