BBC faces new allegation against unnamed presenter from teenager

The BBC presenter facing allegations he paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos sent threatening messages to a young person in their early 20s, the broadcaster has reported.

The BBC is already under pressure from previous allegations against the unnamed male presenter, which were first reported by The Sun newspaper over the weekend. The new allegations increase that pressure.

The BBC claims that the young person was first introduced to the presenter at the focus of the latest allegations on a dating app before their interactions spread to other platforms.

He then introduced himself and requested that the young person not tell anyone else, according to BBC News.

Later, the young person intimated online that they might name the presenter and made references to having spoken with him.

The BBC claims to have seen and verified that the “threatening messages” originated from the presenter’s phone number after he allegedly sent a number of them.

According to the BBC, the young individual “remains scared” and feels “threatened” by the texts.

BBC News reported that it had gotten in touch with the host through his attorney but had not heard back on the accusations.

The Sun made its initial allegations about the anonymous presenter on Friday, alleging that a young person, who the broadcaster said is unrelated to the individual in the BBC article, was paid roughly £35,000 over three years, starting at the age of 17, for explicit images.

Director-general Tim Davie had already stated that he has commissioned a review to “assess how some complaints are red flagged up the organisation.”

Seven weeks after the family’s initial complaint against the broadcaster to the BBC, according to Mr. Davie, he was first made aware of the claims when the newspaper announced it would run its front-page story.

He explained to the media that this was because there had been no response to contact attempts and that the accusations could not be independently verified.

Following a meeting with the Metropolitan Police, the company was also requested to halt its internal inquiry into the claims “while the police scope future work.”

A statement from the broadcaster said: “As a result of this meeting, the BBC has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations while the police scope future work.”

It added: “The BBC has processes and protocols for receiving information and managing complaints when they are first made. We always take these matters extremely seriously and seek to manage them with the appropriate duty of care.

“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.

“There will, of course, be lessons to be learned following this exercise.”

Leigh Tavaziva, the chief operational officer of the BBC Group, has been tasked by Mr. Davie with determining whether the BBC Group’s rules and processes are adequate in light of the circumstances.

Speaking at a press conference about the BBC’s annual report, Mr Davie said: “Of course there will be lessons to be learned, and how processes could be improved.

“Immediately I have asked that we assess how some complaints are red flagged up the organisation.

“We will take time to properly review the current protocols and procedures to ensure they remain sufficient based on anything we learn from this case.”