By Emily Caulkett-
The BBC is caught up in real drama, after one of its presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit photographs has been suspended.
The unnamed BBC personality was accused of paying a young girl of 17 more than £35,000 for explicit photos, starting in 2020 , which they are said to have used to fund a crack cocaine addiction. The allegations were first made in The Sun Newspaper, and the mother of the woman said her daughter had used the money to fund crack habit.
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Pressure is being put on the corporation to speed up its internal investigation in this matter, after the family of the woman in question expressed anger with the corporation, and the fact the presenter continued to present on air after the allegation was made public.
The corporation, which is due to meet the police on Monday, said it was made aware of a complaint in May, but that new allegations of a “different nature” were brought to it on Thursday.
The Broadcasting Corporation said sit is “working as quickly as possible to establish the facts” into the allegations concerning the male presenter.
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BBC director general, Tim Davie(pictured) said the situation was “complex” and that the corporation has been in contact with “external authorities”
New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own inquiries we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols. BBC presenters including Gary Lineka, Nicky Campbell and Jeremy Vine have denied speculations that they are the presenter in question.
On his Channel 5 show, Jeremy Vine said: “Over the weekend, a number of names were thrown in… I was shocked that my name was put into it.”
He stressed that he was “completely innocent of any of this”, which he saw online before going to a concert at the weekend.
“By the time I got to Bruce Springsteen on a Saturday I just thought, this is what social media does. It’s just basically a massive fountain of sewage, and someone needs to put a cap on it.”
A BBC Spokesperson said: “We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended.
“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.”
The statement added that the corporation takes “any allegations seriously” and that it has “robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations”.
It added: “This is a complex and fast moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps.
“It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care.
“We have been clear that if – at any point – new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up.”
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