'Everyone in this building knows who it is': Moment BBC boss is grilled over identity of presenter

Watch: BBC reporter tells boss everyone knows presenter's identity

The head of the BBC was grilled by one of his own journalists about the identity of the presenter suspended over allegations he paid a teenager for explicit images.

The unnamed presenter has been suspended after a family claimed in The Sun newspaper that he allegedly paid £35,000 to a young person he had been in contact with - from the age of 17 - for sexual images

On Tuesday, the BBC said it only made two attempts to contact the family after the initial complaint was made in June, and that it waited seven weeks before having a conversation with the presenter about the allegations.

Read more: Live updates on BBC presenter allegations

BBC director-general Tim Davie revealed that he has not spoken to the presenter since the allegations were made.

He was questioned by BBC Radio 4's The World At One host Sarah Montague on Tuesday about the corporation's handling of the claims.

Speaking about the unnamed presenter, she told Davie: "We're in a very strange situation, aren't we, in that he's not been named, but everyone in this building knows who it is.

"And there are an awful lot of people, who you also have a duty of care to, male presenters on air, who are having to go on air, to say it's not them. It is not a sustainable situation, is it?"

At the weekend, BBC stars such as Gary Lineker, Rylan Clark, Nicky Campbell and Jeremy Vine were all forced to address false allegations made on social media and say they were not the presenter in question.

Davie replied: "It is a very difficult and complex situation and we are trying to calmly and judiciously navigate our way through quite difficult circumstances."

The BBC has released a timeline of events, saying a family member of the young person first complained on 18 May, when they went to a BBC building.

The following day, 19 May, the same family member contacted BBC Audience Services and the details of the claims were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team, who assessed that the claims did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation.

The BBC said two subsequent attempts to contact the complainant via phone and email were unsuccessful and while the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks, no additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June.

The Sun first contacted the BBC on 6 July about the allegations they were due to publish, which was the first time Davie or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.

Davie told The World At One he did not speak to the accused presenter on 6 July, but instead the conversation was conducted by a “senior manager”.

The claims made by The Sun contained new allegations, that were different from the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations, the corporation said.

This was the first time the presenter concerned was spoken to about the matter, according to the BBC, seven weeks after the initial complaint.

Davie said the allegations were "clearly damaging to the BBC".

He said: "You always have lessons you learn from these situations."

The young person at the centre of the clams has said nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened with the unnamed presenter, calling The Sun report "rubbish", although their mother reportedly stands by the claims.

Watch: Met Police asks BBC to pause internal investigation into presenter