The BBC presenter at the centre of the sex scandal which is rocking the corporation reportedly made two desperate phone calls to the family of the 17-year-old boy involved frantically asking: “What have you done?”
BBC representatives are set to meet the Metropolitan Police on Monday as the corporation deals with claims that the unnamed presenter paid the teenager more than £35,000 for sexually explicit images.
The presenter in question was suspended yesterday, and The Sun reporting details of two panicked phone calls which it says he made after the news broke.
In one he asked: “What have you done?” and demanded the young man, who is now aged 20, called his mother to ask her to “stop the investigation”.
The family says nobody from the BBC contacted them for a proper interview after they lodged the complaint. On Saturday evening they presented Jeff Brown, the BBC’s lead investigator, with a dossier of evidence.
They claim the victim had used the cash to buy drugs and has gone from being a “happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict” in the space of three years.
Speaking to the Sun on Friday, his mother said: “I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life.
“Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child.”
“Whenever I see him on telly, I feel sick.”
She said her son had shown her an online bank statement containing numerous deposits from the man.
She added: “There were huge sums, hundreds or thousands of pounds at a time.
“One time he had sent £5,000 in one lump. The money had been in exchange for sexually explicit photographs of my child.”
The star demanded explicit “performances”, she explained.
She continued: “All I want is for this man to stop paying my child for sexual pictures and stop him funding my child’s drug habit.”
BBC stars including Jeremy Vine, Nicky Campbell, Gary Lineker and Rylan Clark have all issued public denials.
A statement issued the following day said: “The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations.
“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.”
It added: “The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May. New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own enquiries we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols.
“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.”
In a statement on Sunday evening, the Metropolitan Police said: “The Met has received initial contact from the BBC in relation to this matter, but no formal referral or allegation has been made.
“We will require additional information before determining what further action should follow.”
Speaking to Sky News today, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said: “These are very serious and concerning allegations. You ask me as a parent – I would be extremely concerned about that.
“I think in fairness, 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.”
