‘Nothing wrong’ with BBC presenter’s altercation – young man’s lawyer

Lawyers for the young man said the claims made by the mother of the BBC presenter at the center of the scandal were “rubbish”.

The lawyer told the BBC that “nothing inappropriate or illegal happened” and the young man issued denials to The Sun before the claims were published.

The Sun first reported on Friday that a BBC presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos.

The newspaper said it had seen evidence to support the mother’s claims.

In a letter to the BBC on Monday, the lawyer said the young man had sent a message to the paper via WhatsApp late on Friday denying the claims, saying their mother’s statement to the paper was “completely false and without facts”. in accordance with”. it”.

Despite this, the lawyer added, The Sun published “their inappropriate article”.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no inappropriate or illegal conduct occurred between our client and the BBC celebrity, and the allegations reported by The Sun are rubbish,” the lawyers wrote.

The lawyer also said the news coverage constituted an invasion of privacy and criticized the Sun and the BBC for not contacting their clients.

“It appears that no one at The Sun attempted to contact our client prior to the publication of the allegations on Friday 6 July,” the lawyers wrote.

The lawyer also claimed in the letter that the mother was estranged from the young man.

In response, The Sun said: “We reported a story about two very concerned parents who complained to the BBC about a presenter’s behavior and their child’s welfare.

“The BBC failed to act on their complaints.

“We have seen evidence to support their concerns. It is now up to the BBC to investigate properly.”

The Sun published a new report on Monday night after BBC News revealed excerpts from the young man’s legal letters.

In a new interview, the mother and stepfather who made the allegations said they “support” their allegations.

The article quoted the stepfather as saying that the allegations had been made to the BBC for “an hour”, which appeared to contradict a previous statement in Monday’s edition, which said: “The family said they were not called by anyone from the company to demand proper compensation.” Interview after initial complaint. “

The article also reported that the stepfather reported the incident to the police but was told “they can’t do anything about it because they say it’s not illegal.”

BBC News did not know the identities of the young men and did not speak to them directly.

It has not seen any evidence from The Sun or the dossier reported by The Sun that the family handed over to the company over the weekend.

The BBC said on Sunday that a staff member had been suspended, but did not identify it.

The company said it was “ascertaining the facts as quickly as possible so that appropriate information can be provided for appropriate next steps”.

The Metropolitan Police are “assessing” information provided by the BBC about the allegations against the presenter, but said no investigation has yet been launched.

A police spokesman said detectives held a virtual meeting with BBC representatives on Monday.

The Sun reported on Friday that a BBC presenter had paid the youngster tens of thousands of pounds for the pictures since he was 17.

The BBC said it first became aware of the complaint in May and had received “new allegations” on Thursday, a day before The Sun first published its statement.

On Sunday, The Sun reported that the young man’s family were said to be disturbed by the company’s latest response, saying “the BBC did not call them for a proper interview following the initial complaint”.

The newspaper also said the BBC presenter made two “panic phone calls” to the now 20-year-old after the original story broke.