BBC scandal: Lawyer says claims against presenter are ‘nonsense’

LONDON –

British detectives met with BBC representatives on Monday over allegations that a leading presenter allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. But police said they had not opened a criminal investigation and a lawyer for the youngster denied anything inappropriate had happened.

The UK’s government-funded national broadcaster has suspended the male star, who has not been named, over allegations that he gave a youngster £35,000 ($45,000) from 2020, when the youngster was 17.

Although the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it is a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under the age of 18.

London’s Metropolitan Police Force said detectives are “assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further inquiries are taking place to establish whether there is any evidence of the commission of a criminal offence.”

“At the moment there is no investigation,” said the police.

The Sun newspaper, which first reported the allegations, said the youngster’s mother had complained to the BBC in May but the presenter had remained on the air. The parents then took the story to the tabloid.

In another twist, a lawyer for the youngster – who has also not been named – told the BBC that “nothing improper or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality.” The lawyer said the allegations in The Sun were “nonsense”.

The paper defended her actions, saying it “reported a story about two very concerned parents who had made a complaint to the BBC about a presenter’s behavior and the welfare of their child.”

“Their complaint was not followed up by the BBC. We’ve seen evidence that supports their concerns. It is now up to the BBC to investigate properly,” the newspaper said.

The BBC has been scrambling to deal with a growing crisis since the allegations were first published by The Sun this weekend. It said in a statement on Sunday that it was “first made aware of a complaint in May” but that “new allegations of a different nature were brought to us on Thursday”.

The broadcaster said that “the BBC takes all allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes to proactively address such allegations.” It said the company had also been in contact with “outside authorities”, but did not specify whether that was the police.

“This is a complex and rapidly changing set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform the appropriate next steps,” the BBC said.

“We can also confirm that a male member of staff has been suspended.”

The name of the presenter has not been disclosed due to British privacy legislation. But that hasn’t stopped the frenetic speculation on social media about the man’s identity.

Several of the BBC’s best-known stars said they weren’t and even threatened legal action against online accusers.

Radio host Nicky Campbell said it had been “an unsettling weekend, I can’t deny it, for me and others with false names.”

“Today I am having further discussions with the police in terms of malicious communication and with lawyers in terms of defamation,” Campbell said on his BBC radio programme.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman Max Blain said the allegations were “concerning” but that the government was “assured that the BBC is looking into this matter swiftly”.

“The first thing to do is to establish the facts and make sure they are brought out at the right time,” he said.

The situation comes weeks after commercial British broadcaster ITV faced its own scandal when Phillip Schofield, a longtime presenter of the channel’s popular morning show, quit in May and admitted lying about an affair with a much younger colleague.

ITV executives were called to parliament to answer questions about whether the broadcaster had a “toxic” work culture and had covered up star misconduct.

The BBC receives more attention than other broadcasters due to its status as a national institution funded by an annual license fee of £159 ($203) paid by all households with a television.

It has been hit by several scandals over the years involving its stars, most notoriously when Jimmy Savile, a longtime children’s TV presenter, was exposed after his death in 2011 as a pedophile who abused children and teenagers for decades .