What the BBC has said about presenter sex scandal

The BBC is facing the prospect of a new scandal amid allegations an unnamed male presenter paid a young person they had been in contact with from the age of 17 around £35,000 for sexual images.

The presenter has been suspended by the BBC, which has paused its own investigation into the claims “while the police scope future work".

The scandal has raised serious questions over the speed at which the corporation responds to such allegations, with the complaint first being made by the young person's family on 19 May and director-general Tim Davie admitting that the presenter was only spoken to for the first time seven weeks after the initial complaint.

Here, Yahoo News provides a rundown of what the BBC has said in response to the scandal so far.

Friday 7 July

The Sun publishes claims that an unnamed presenter, "known to millions", has been taken off air while claims he paid a teenager for sexual images were investigated.

It is understood the presenter paid more than £35,000 to the young person.

Watch: MPs would be “ill-advised” to name the BBC presenter, a senior Cabinet minister warns

The alleged recipient's mother told The Sun that their child had used the money to pay for a "spiralling" addiction to crack cocaine.

Responding to the article, the BBC said: “We treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them.”

• Read more: 'Household name' BBC presenter 'paid teenager for sexually explicit photos'

Saturday 8 July

More claims began to emerge, with another story in The Sun claiming the presenter at the centre of the scandal stripped to his underwear for a video call with the teenager.

He was “leaning forward, getting ready for my child to perform for him,” the mother told the newspaper, claiming she saw the presenter on her child's phone.

With the BBC staffer still unnamed, a vacuum formed which led to a frenzy of unfounded speculation on social media.

This prompted a kickback from presenters who opted to publicly clear their names, some of whom threatened legal action against those who dragged their name through the mud.

• Read more: Furious BBC stars threaten legal action over false claims (Yahoo News UK)

Sunday 9 July

The BBC confirmed in a statement that it had suspended a male presenter from all duties and contacted the Metropolitan Police over the allegations.

In a note sent to staff, BBC director general Tim Davie said the broadcaster takes "all such allegations incredibly seriously".

He said: “The BBC became aware of a complaint in May; the BBC investigations team have been looking into this since it was raised and have been actively following up.

“New allegations, of a different nature, were put to us on Thursday, and in addition to our own enquiries we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols."

The corporation described the situation as "complex and fast moving" and said it was "working as quickly as possible to establish the facts".

It added: “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.”

BBC director-general Davie also said he was “wholly condemning the unsubstantiated rumours being made on the internet about some of our presenting talent” in response to the social media frenzy falsely accusing other BBC presenters

A spokesperson for the Met Police said the force had "initial contact" from the BBC but that "no formal referral or allegation has been made". It added: "We will require additional information before determining what further action should follow."

• Read more: BBC calls in police over presenter accused of paying teenager for explicit images

Monday 10 July

Metropolitan Police detectives held a meeting with BBC representatives about the allegations, and said it was "assessing information" provided by the broadcaster to establish if a crime had been committed.

In another turn of events, a lawyer for the young person wrote a letter to the BBC claiming many of the claims made to The Sun by the mother were untrue.

The BBC reported the letter as saying: “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." 

A spokesperson for the Sun 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’s now for the BBC to properly investigate.”

• Read more: BBC presenter row: Young person's family stand by allegations

Tuesday 11 July

Davie said the broadcaster had made two attempts to contact the family after the initial complaint, both of which were unsuccessful.

Releasing a timeline of events, the broadcaster said a relative of the young person first complained on 18 May, when they went to a BBC building.

The following day they 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 subsequent attempts to contact the complainant were unsuccessful and that no additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June. It added that the case remained open throughout.

Meanwhile the Met Police asked the BBC to pause its own internal investigation “while the police scope future work”, the corporation said.

• BBC director-general provides update on presenter scandal