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The young person at the centre of a scandal over a BBC presenter reportedly paying for explicit pictures has issued a statement in which they claimed the key allegations are “rubbish”.
The intervention came after a prominent male BBC presenter was suspended at the weekend after allegations he spent £35,000 buying explicit images from the young person, who was allegedly 17 years old when they started talking online.
The young person’s mother made the allegations in the Sun newspaper, which published her claim that payments from the BBC presenter helped fund her child’s crack cocaine habit. Yet in a dramatic turn of events, on Monday evening the young person’s lawyer issued a statement saying both the mother and the Sun had made false claims.
‘Nothing inappropriate’
The lawyer 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.”
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The lawyer told BBC News they provided a similar denial to the Sun prior to the publication of the original story, telling the tabloid there was “no truth” to the article they were preparing to publish. The tabloid pressed ahead, without including any denial from the young person.
A spokesperson for 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.”
The young person’s parents on Monday night said they “stand by” the claims. “It is sad but we stand by our account and we hope they get the help they need,” the mother told the Sun. “We did this to help — and the presenter has got into their head. How did they afford a lawyer? We are so sad.”
The stepfather said: “We are disappointed they made a statement. It’s not true.”
Sources in the Sun newsroom suggested there was growing nervousness about the newspaper’s handling of the story, which has dominated the headlines for several days, led to the suspension of a prominent BBC presenter, and forced multiple on-air stars to publicly deny they have been suspended.
The young person’s statement was released after the Metropolitan police said they were still considering whether to launch an investigation into the allegations.
If the young person sent any explicit pictures when they were 17 then this could count as images of child sexual abuse, a serious criminal offence. But if the explicit photographs were exchanged only after the young person turned 18 then it is possible that no law was broken. The age at which individuals can share explicit photographs is higher than the age at which they can legally have sex.
BBC director general Tim Davie is set to answer questions about the allegations on Tuesday morning, as he meets journalists to launch the corporation’s annual report — an event scheduled several weeks before this story broke. He will be accompanied by the newly appointed interim BBC chairwoman Elan Closs Stephens in her first public appearance in the role.
The BBC presenter has not been named by media outlets, although there is not believed to be any court order or injunction banning publication of the individual’s name. Instead, the presenter has relied on the strong privacy protections offered under English and Welsh law after recent legal rulings.
Hanna Basha, of the law firm Payne Hicks Beach, said judges tried to balance the reputation of the individual and the public’s right to know what was going on: “The law recognises the privacy of suspects in investigations unless there is an overwhelming public interest in naming them.”
As a result, it is possible that both the BBC and the police could ultimately conclude the presenter has no case to answer and he is never publicly identified.
Earlier on Monday detectives from the Metropolitan police’s specialist crime command had a virtual meeting with BBC representatives to discuss the allegations against the presenter.
Criminal investigation
The Met does not consider the threshold for a criminal investigation to have yet been reached. In a statement, it made it clear the force would carry out further work, but fall short of a formal criminal investigation that would give officers powers of arrest and search. Detectives are trying to work out what, if any, criminal offence may have been committed by the suspended presenter.
A police spokesperson said: “They are assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further inquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed. There is no investigation at this time.”
The statement suggests the police are still at the “scoping” stage of the inquiry, where they do not commit to a particular course of action, but leave open the option of launching a full investigation.
The Sun’s decision not to name the presenter has had other consequences, with prominent male BBC presenters making clear they are not the suspended individual.
On Monday, BBC presenter Nicky Campbell said he had been to the police over false social media claims that he was the suspended individual. Campbell said he had had a “distressing weekend” after being the subject of online smears and had made a report under the malicious communications act. — Guardian