Warning over more ‘collateral victims’ in BBC presenter scandal as corporation told to ‘get its house in order’
THE Justice Secretary has warned the BBC needs to “get its house in order” amid the scandal surrounding a well-known presenter.
It has been three days since The Sun exclusively revealed a star had allegedly paid a youngster more than £35,000, while they sent him sordid images.
The BBC has since been slammed by the cop who exposed paedophile BBC star Jimmy Savile, with calls for the broadcaster to name the presenter.
Piers Morgan also blasted BBC for its “ridiculous” coverage of the presenter to date.
This morning Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said he was “pleased” cops would be involved in discussions today.
But he said the investigations need to be delved into and dealt with promptly.
Chalk told BBC Breakfast: “I’m not here, as it were, to bash the BBC.
“But, I do think that they need to get their house in order and they need to proceed promptly, otherwise you will have plenty of collateral victims of what is a deeply serious and concerning allegation.”
The Justice Secretary was then asked what he meant by the corporation having to “get its house in order”, he said: “What it means very simply is this: when serious and concerning allegations are made, they need to be investigated promptly and commensurate with the seriousness of them.
“If the reports are to be believed, even if they are half as serious as are alleged, then you would expect the BBC to respond promptly.”
Chalk said that if this was a case when the serious and concerning allegations were sat on, “it would be extremely serious”.
It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the investigation must “play out before we jump to any conclusion”.
She told ITV‘s Good Morning Britain today: “These are obviously very serious allegations.
“I think it is right that we allow the process to play out in the proper way. The BBC has announced that they are carrying out an internal investigation to establish the facts.
“We need to allow that to happen. I wouldn’t want to go behind that or pre-empt any finding.”
Braverman said that prompt action is “absolutely vital”, and when she was why it had taken “so long” she said: “We don’t know the facts yet, a lot of it is speculation.
“In a case of serious allegations such as these prompt action is, of course, absolutely vital for safeguarding purposes, for justice purposes, but also for propriety purposes.”
On Sunday it was revealed the man could be charged by cops, and face years behind bars.
Latest on BBC sex probe:
- BBC star who ‘paid teen for sex pics’ could face years in prison
- Teen’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 teen
- Piers Morgan blasts ‘ridiculous’ BBC coverage
- BBC ‘is getting calls from MORE members of public about the behaviour of the presenter‘
- A cop who exposed paedophile BBC star Jimmy Savile said the broadcaster MUST name the presenter
Then the youngster’s mum claimed the panicked presenter called the youngster twice after The Sun published the allegations.
The presenter apparently rang last week asking: “What have you done?”
It is claimed he also asked the youngster to ring their mum to get her to “stop the investigation”.
The BBC is also allegedly getting calls from MORE members of the public about the accused presenter.
A Beeb source has told The Sun on Sunday: “The BBC has started to receive calls from the public about the behaviour of the person at the centre of the investigation.”
It came after the star was suspended by BBC, after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer sat down with the BBC boss Tim Davie.
Davie said he was taking the allegations “incredibly seriously”.
The BBC put out a statement following the suspension.
It read: “The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have 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.
“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.
“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 enquiries 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.”