'DEEPLY CONCERNING'
Urgent talks held over top BBC presenter ‘paying teen for sexual pictures’ – with promise to investigate ‘swiftly’
URGENT talks between BBC and the Culture Secretary have taken place over the top presenter who is accused of paying a teen for sexual pictures.
The Sun’s bombshell claims that TV star gave the teenager more than £35,000 dominated the BBC’s news coverage as bosses remained silent on the crisis.
2
2
It was revealed earlier today that Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer would sit down with the BBC boss Tim Davie.
Ahead of the meeting, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport called the allegations "deeply concerning".
It said: "As a public service broadcaster in receipt of public funding, senior officials have stressed to the BBC that the allegations must be investigated urgently and sensitively, with [DCMS] kept informed."
The Culture Secretary this afternoon announced she had met with the Davie, and said she had been promised the firm was "investigating swiftly".
Read more on UK news
She said: "I have spoken to BBC Director General Tim Davie about the deeply concerning allegations involving one of its presenters. He has assured me the BBC are investigating swiftly and sensitively.
"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. I will be kept updated."
It comes after senior Tory MP Caroline Dinenage said: “The BBC clearly has some very serious questions to answer.”
Since this story was published the star has now been suspended by the BBC while they launch an urgent investigation.
Most read in The Sun
The mother of the teen who claims the BBC star paid her child for sexual pictures yesterday told of how she was stunned to see a phone image of the presenter in his boxer shorts.
She recalled to The Sun: “I loved watching him on TV.
“So I was shocked to see a picture of him sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear.
“I immediately recognised him.
“He was leaning forward getting ready for my child to perform for him.
“My child told me, ‘I have shown things’ and this was a picture from some kind of video call.”
The star is off-air but has not been suspended while claims are being investigated.
According to the BBC’s website, staff accused of a serious breach of discipline can be “immediately suspended”.
But the presenter is believed to still being paid his full six-figure salary.
The allegations in yesterday’s Sun rocked the BBC.
And BBC journalists reported that the corporation faced questions over its handling of the crisis.
On Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, BBC culture and media editor Katie Razzall said: “It’s the front page of The Sun newspaper and the allegations are very serious.
“So clearly, there are questions swirling not just about the identity of the BBC individual, and of course, whether the claims are true, but also for the BBC in terms of what steps the corporation took after that complaint was made.”
Latest on BBC sex probe:
- BBC star who 'paid teen for sex pics' could face years in prison
- Alleged victim’s mum claims star stripped to his pants for call
- 8 questions BBC refused to answer about star taken off air
- Star 'partied with BBC bosses AFTER complaint made'
- Gary Lineker, Rylan Clark & Jeremy Vine all deny being the star
- The presenter allegedly gave the teen £35k for sordid images
- Mum blames BBC man for giving money for drugs to her child
In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, the mother said the family complained in May but became frustrated that the star was still on air a month later.
She said in June her child told her they had received a payment of £1,000 — allegedly transferred by PayPal.
She went on: “My child said they had run out of money and then suddenly had this cash.
“It’s obvious to me the BBC hadn’t spoken to this man between our complaint on May 19 and in June as they thought he was too important.
“We never wanted an investigation.
“We just wanted the BBC to tell him to stop.
“Initially the security boss gave us a number that didn’t exist.”
She added of the presenter: “Earlier this year I heard him on the phone saying to my child, ‘I told you not to f***ing ring me’.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“It was shocking as I’d see how he would act on the telly and then he would say stuff like that.”
Earlier the mother heartbreakingly told how the teenager, now 20, used the man’s alleged funds to feed a “spiralling” drug addiction.
Topics