Claims about BBC presenter are ‘rubbish’, lawyer tells BBC
Allegations made by the mum at the heart of the BBC presenter scandal have been described as ‘rubbish’ by the lawyer representing the young person.
The Metropolitan Police are carrying out further inquiries to establish if any crime has been committed after a virtual meeting with the broadcaster earlier today.
Speculation about the identity of the male star accused of paying £35,000 to the anonymous teen for sexual imagery has also been rife online.
While the victim at the centre of the allegations is now 20 years old, the situation is said to have begun when they were 17.
But the lawyer representing them has reported that the claims have ‘no truth to it’.
A letter from them reported by BBC News At Six 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”.’
Again citing the lawyer, the BBC also reported the young person sent a denial to the Sun on Friday evening, but that the ‘inappropriate article’ was still published.
A statement from the newspaper 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 is now for the BBC to properly investigate.’
According to a report by the newspaper, the mum saw a picture of the presenter on her child’s phone ‘sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear’.
She was told it was ‘a picture from some kind of video call’ and looked like he was ‘getting ready for my child to perform for him’.
The family were said to have complained to the BBC on May 19, but then became frustrated that the star remained on air.
The broadcaster confirmed it had been investigating a complaint since May, and that new claims of a ‘different nature’ were brought to it on Thursday.
As well as being in touch with the police, it is carrying out its own inquiries and talking to the young person’s family.
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