Teen at centre of BBC presenter scandal says claims are 'rubbish'

Young person denies claims made by mother, in a letter from their lawyer to the BBC

There are questions over how the BBC handled the allegations. AFP

The teenager at the centre of the BBC explicit images controversy has said nothing inappropriate or illegal happened with the unidentified male presenter and that the allegations were “rubbish”, their lawyer has said in a letter.

The letter says the young person sent a denial to The Sun on Friday evening saying there was "no truth" to the allegations in the paper's report.

Despite this action, the lawyer said, the "inappropriate article" was still published.

"Nobody from The Sun newspaper appears to have made any attempt to contact our client prior to the publication of the allegations on Friday, July 6,” the lawyer wrote.

The lawyer also wrote that mother and the young person are estranged.

"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," a representative for The Sun said.

"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."

In an interview with The Sun on Monday, the mother and stepfather who made the claims said they "stand by" their allegations.

Earlier on Monday, BBC executives were urged to “get their house in order” as the corporation found itself caught in the scandal over the allegations against the presenter.

The BBC was urged by senior political figures to ensure investigations – into the allegation that a presenter paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images and into the BBC’s handling of the controversy – are carried out correctly.

The Sun reported on Monday that the presenter, a BBC employee, made “panicked” calls to the young person involved in the allegations after details became public.

On Sunday the BBC said it had been in touch with police and confirmed a male employee had been suspended after the potentially career-ending allegations.

Cabinet ministers went on TV news programmes on Monday to discuss the scandal and how it could be handled.

“Time is of the essence because it is not fair on victims, it is not fair on people who could be implicated and it is not fair on the BBC, which does an important job. I'm not here, as it were, to bash the BBC,” said Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.

“I do think that they need to get their house in order and they need to proceed promptly, otherwise you will have plenty of collateral victims of what is a deeply serious and concerning allegation.”

Mr Chalk said an investigation might be needed in the future into how the BBC handled the allegations against the unnamed presenter.

“These are very serious and concerning allegations. You ask me as a parent – I would be extremely concerned about that,” he said.

“I don't know precisely what was said and at what time, but certainly you would expect allegations of that nature to be dealt with very robustly and promptly.

“I think what we are now seeing today … and I understand there is going to be a meeting with the police, and that is absolutely right.

“And it may be that in the fullness of time, there will need to be an investigation about how this allegation was handled. That is quite possible.

“But right now I think it is important, in the interest of that victim, of that complainant, that this is dealt with as quickly and fairly and robustly as possible.”

Mr Chalk said suggestions that the BBC allowed the presenter to stay on air despite allegations were “astonishing”.

“If that is right, then it is astonishing and you would have expected robust action to have been taken much more quickly.

“I don't know precisely what was said, and that is why there needs to be a full discussion of this in the fullness of time.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said a BBC internal investigation should be allowed to “play out before we jump to any conclusion”.

“These are obviously very serious allegations,” Ms Braverman said. “I think it is right that we allow the process to play out in the proper way.

"The BBC has announced that they are carrying out an internal investigation to establish the facts.

“We need to allow that to happen. I wouldn't want to go behind that or pre-empt any finding.”

Mr Chalk also said it might not be right to immediately name the presenter.

“If an allegation were made against you and it was of an extremely serious nature, then I don't think it would necessarily be appropriate to name you immediately until there had been a full investigation,” he said.

“It is really important that time is of the essence because there is a public interest in this, I accept that. But equally, there is a public interest in ensuring that people aren't defamed as well.”

BBC director general Tim Davie is due to face the media on Tuesday for a scheduled briefing after the release of the corporation's annual report, but the growing crisis involving the presenter will dominate the event.

A host of famous BBC faces have been forced to publicly state they are not the presenter in question amid heavy speculation about the identity on social media.

In a note sent to staff, Mr Davie said the corporation takes “all such allegations incredibly seriously”.

“The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May,” a BBC spokesman said.

“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.”