An unnamed male BBC presenter has been accused of paying a youth more than €35,000 (S$51,700) for sexually explicit photos since the teen was 17.
The youth purportedly then used the money to fund a "spiralling" cocaine addiction, prompting their mother to reveal salacious details of the presenter's inappropriate behaviour to British tabloid The Sun, which published the allegations on Friday (Jul. 7).
The presenter, who was reportedly a "household name" and paid a six-figure salary by the BBC, was suspended by the company on Sunday evening (Jul. 9).
However, the youth, now 20, has since claimed via a lawyer that their mother's claims were "rubbish" and "not true".
Timeline of events
Initial allegations
The allegations were first published by British tabloid The Sun on Jul. 7.
BBC has come under fire after acknowledging that it did not flag the first complaint by the family to senior management for seven weeks until the tabloid newspaper approached it about the story.
The youth's mother said the presenter first requested images of the then 17-year-old youth in 2020.
At the same time, he apparently started sending the youth inappropriate messages.
Over the next two days after the story first broke, The Sun published a series of articles as the mother continued to paint a sordid picture of the youth's engagement with the presenter, saying that the presenter had "stripped to his underpants for a video call".
She said she "immediately recognised him" as he didn't bother to hide his job, and "even sent a picture of his desk at work to my child".
From 2020 to 2023, the presenter then purportedly made a series of payments to the youth totalling more than €35,000 in exchange for illicit photos.
The mother said her child used the money to fund a cocaine addiction, which had "destroyed" their life, according to The Sun.
The mother alleged that her child had gone from "a happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict" in three years, and blamed the man for "taking [her] child's innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill [her] child".
She said her child had shown her an online bank statement that had numerous deposits from the presenter. The deposits were said to range from hundred to thousands of pounds -- up to £5,000 -- at a time.
The BBC acknowledged in its timeline of events that a family member of the youth had walked into a BBC building on May 18 to make a complaint.
However, The Sun reported that the family had initially emailed the BBC on May 19 and "begged" them to make the man "stop sending the cash".
They purportedly included bank statements showing the payments made by the presenter.
However, after seeing that the presenter was still on air, the family grew frustrated.
The youth had allegedly received another payment of €1,000 (S$1,476) in June.
Their mother said the payment made it "obvious the BBC hadn't spoken to this man... as they thought he was too important".
The BBC said it made two unsuccessful attempts -- one email and one phone call -- to respond to the complainant.
The BBC also said the allegations brought to it by The Sun were different from what it had put together.
BBC's statement on the presenter's suspension
On Jul. 9, the BBC released a statement at 10:09pm Singapore time confirming the suspension of the presenter.
Photo via
The BBC also explained it "first became aware of a complaint in May", and that the allegations that surfaced in July were "new" and "of a different nature".
Investigations and backlash
The BBC launched an internal inquiry and have engaged the Metropolitan police.
According to British media Sky News, director-general Tim Davie said the BBC is in contact with the family referenced in the reports and condemns rumours about "some of our presenting talent", adding that those involved are "entitled to privacy".
Meanwhile, British politicians said they were "concerned" about why the BBC has taken "a very long time" to investigate the claims.
On the evening of Jul. 9, The Sun published another article claiming that the presenter had called the youth twice and asked: "What have you done?"
He also asked the youth to get their mother to "stop the investigation".
Youth says mother's claims are "rubbish"
On Jul. 10, a lawyer for the youth sent a letter to the BBC.
The letter reportedly stated that the mother's claims were "rubbish" and that the article published by The Sun was "inappropriate".
It was also revealed that the youth had sent a WhatsApp message to the newspaper on the evening of Jul. 7, before the story was published, saying that their mother's statement was "totally wrong and there was no truth to it".
"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," the lawyer wrote.
The lawyer also criticised The Sun and BBC for not contacting the youth prior to running their stories, and mentioned that the youth and their parents shared an estranged relationship.
Mother and step-father speak out
Following the lawyer's letter, The Sun responded that it had "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".
The newspaper added that it had "seen evidence that supports [the parent]'s concerns. It's now for the BBC to properly investigate".
The mother and step-father of the youth then told The Sun that it "stood by their allegation", and questioned who had paid to provide their child with a lawyer.
The step-father said: “We are disappointed they made a statement. It’s not true.”
Detectives from the Metropolitan police's specialist crime command had a virtual meeting with BBC representatives and concluded that the threshold for a formal criminal investigation has yet to be reached.
Who isn't the presenter
The Sun's refusal to name the BBC presenter under fire has resulted in prominent male BBC presenters taking to social media to clear their names.
Gary Lineker, Rylan Clark, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell are some to have publicly stated that they are not the presenter in question.
What's next?
On Jul. 11, the BBC was due to publish its annual report, which are an assessment of the BBC's performance over the past 12 months -- just as the scandal started to gather more steam.
Director-general Davie hosted the press conference.
"The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is that they are handled with the utmost diligence and care," Davie told reporters after the BBC published its annual report, Reuters reported.
Davie, who said he had not personally spoken to the presenter, said the new information provided by The Sun on July 6 "clearly related to potential criminal activity".
2nd young person comes forward
And the scandal has since grown.
BBC said on Jul. 11 it had been contacted by a second young person who said they had been approached by the presenter on a dating app.
The second youth is unconnected to the first.
The second youth, who never met the presenter, was subsequently sent abusive, expletive-filled messages, the BBC said, according to Reuters.
This was after the youth hinted online that they would reveal the presenter's identity.
BBC reported it had verified that the messages to this second youth were sent from a phone belonging to the presenter.
But BBC has yet to receive a response to the latest allegations from either the presenter or his lawyer.
3rd and 4th young persons have come forward
In the latest update, two more young persons have come forward with allegations, Sky News reported.
The third person, now aged 23, alleged the presenter broke pandemic rules to meet them during a national lockdown in February 2021, The Sun reported.
The presenter allegedly travelled across London by train to visit the person at their flat for about an hour.
Messages seen by The Sun suggested the presenter visited the person's home, sent cash and asked for a picture, and was sent a semi-naked photo.
Strict rules at that time included a stay-at-home order and mixing only within the same household.
The Sun also published messages the presenter allegedly sent to a 17-year-old -- the fourth youth -- after initiating a conversation on Instagram in October 2018.
The paper said the messages contained love heart emojis and kisses.
The youth, now aged 22, told The Sun that "looking back now it does seem creepy because he was messaging me when I was still at school".
Scandal dominates headlines in UK
The scandal has dominated UK news since it broke on Friday night, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak describing the allegations as "very serious and concerning".
The age of consent for sex in England is 16, but images of someone under 18 can be considered child pornography.
BBC, funded by a licence fee paid by every TV-watching household, often faces criticism as it tries to be impartial.
Reuters reported that BBC has their plate full as it tries to investigate the claim against the presenter, protect that person's privacy while the facts are established, and respond publicly to the allegations, all while avoiding placing high-profile staff under suspicion.
Top photo via Google Maps