Claims made by mother about BBC presenter are ‘rubbish’, says young person’s lawyer
On 9 July, the BBC confirmed the unnamed presenter had been suspended and also noted that while the broadcaster had been aware of a complaint made in May, “new allegations” of a “different nature” were put to the BBC on 6 July. (Mike Kemp/ In Pictures / Getty Images)
Claims by a mother concerned in the BBC presenter scandal have been called “rubbish” by the lawyer representing the young person.
On BBC’s Six O’Clock News on Monday (10 July) it was announced that the young person, aged 20, is now claiming via a lawyer that nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place.
The lawyer said that allegations made in the Sun newspaper are “rubbish”, while police say they are making further inquiries but there’s current no investigation underway.
A letter sent to the BBC says the young person sent a denial to the Sun on Friday evening saying there was “no truth to it”.
The letter states: “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.”
However, a spokesperson for the Sun told BBC it has seen evidence that supports a complaint made to the BBC.
The comment by the Sun said “two very concerned parents made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child”.
“Their complaint was not acted on by the BBC. We have seen evidence that supports their concerns and it’s now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
The male presenter, who has been suspended, has not been named.
On Sunday (9 July), the BBC confirmed it had suspended a male presenter following allegations he had paid a young person £35,000 over a three-year period for nude images.
According to The Sun, this money funded a debilitating addiction to crack cocaine.
The newspaper spoke to an anonymous source identified as the mother of the young person involved. She alleged that the transactions began when their child, now 20, was aged 17, and that they had gone from “a happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict” in that time.
The mother said she had gone to the BBC in May, urging them to intervene, but that in June her child received another payment.
The BBC has confirmed that it became aware of a complaint about its presenter in May.
However, it said it allowed the presenter to remain on air until “new allegations… of a different nature” emerged on 6 July, the day before The Sun broke the story.
PinkNews and BBC News have not seen any of the Sun’s body of evidence, or the documents the Sun reported was handed to the corporation by the family over the weekend.
