BBC presenter accused of paying teen for sexually express photographs ‘tried to cease investigation after story broke’

The BBC presenter who’s alleged to have paid a 17-year-old tens of hundreds of kilos for sexually express pictures reportedly made two “panicked” calls to the younger individual after the story broke final week.

In new allegations printed in The Sun, the male presenter – who has not been named however is alleged to be a “household name” – referred to as the younger individual to ask “what have you done?”.

He then allegedly requested the younger individual to talk to his mom and urge her to cease the investigation, the paper added.

The mom of the now-20-year-old additionally claimed she was “upset” by the wording of a BBC assertion, and that nobody from the broadcaster initially received in contact along with her when she raised a criticism in May.

The presenter, who was suspended by the BBC on Sunday, reportedly paid £35,000 for the pictures – the cash of which, the mom has claimed, has been spent on a drug behavior.

He allegedly first requested pictures from the teen in 2020 after they have been aged 17 and has made a collection of funds over time, in accordance with The Sun.

The teen’s mom informed The Sun she noticed an image of the presenter on her kid’s cellphone “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear”.

The mom mentioned she was informed it was “a picture from some kind of video call” and seemed like he was “getting ready for my child to perform for him”.

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In an announcement, the broadcaster mentioned it “takes any allegations seriously” and has “robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations”.

The BBC mentioned that whereas it first turned conscious of a criticism in May, “new allegations” of a “different nature” have been put to it on Thursday, including it had been “in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols”.

A Met Police spokesperson confirmed it had been contacted by the BBC however mentioned “no formal referral or allegation has been made”.

BBC taking allegations ‘extremely severely’

In an electronic mail to employees on Sunday, director-general Tim Davie mentioned the BBC was taking the allegations “incredibly seriously”.

He added: “By law, individuals are entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy, which is making this situation more complex.

“I additionally need to be very clear that I’m wholly condemning the unsubstantiated rumours being made on the web about a few of our presenting expertise.

“We are in contact with the family referenced in the media reports. I want to assure you that we are working rapidly to establish the facts.”

The company mentioned it anticipated to have the ability to present an additional replace within the “coming days”.

On Sunday, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer mentioned the BBC was performing “swiftly and sensitively”.

She had spoken to Mr Davie on the cellphone and tweeted: “Given the nature of the allegations it is important that the BBC is now given the space to conduct its investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action.”