The BBC presenter suspended for allegedly paying a teenager for explicit images is said to have made panicked phone calls to the young person last week as The Sun reported on the claims.
The British tabloid reported on Monday that the star, who is not being named by UK media for legal reasons, phoned the teenager to ask: “What have you done?”
The presenter also attempted to stop the teenager’s mother, who appears to be the source of The Sun‘s reporting, to halt the investigation by the BBC.
The mother reportedly complained to the BBC about the presenter in May and told the story of her child to The Sun in a series of articles over the weekend.
The presenter was suspended on Sunday and the BBC has contacted the Metropolitan Police. The teenager was allegedly aged 17 when they were first in contact with the presenter in 2020. It is against the law in the UK to possess or commission images of anyone aged under 18.
The BBC said on Sunday that it had taken action after “new allegations” came to light last week that were of a “different nature” to those contained in the complaint in May.
The teenager’s family told The Sun that they were unhappy with the BBC’s response to the complaint, arguing that no one from the corporation rang to interview them. BBC sources have suggested that the complainant was reluctant to engage.
The corporation’s investigation is being led by former police detective Jeff Brown. The Sun reported that the family has now sent a dossier of evidence to Brown.
The BBC 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.
“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.”