The BBC has issued a new statement about the current scandal engulfing one of its presenters.
At lunchtime today (July 11), the BBC confirmed it has “paused” its investigations into allegations one of its presenters paid £35,000 for explicit pictures of a teenager.
It comes after conversations with the Met Police.
BBC issues new statement about scandal
The statement read: “Yesterday, 10 July, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team had a meeting with the Metropolitan Police in relation to information provided to the BBC by The Sun newspaper on Thursday 6 July. As a result of this meeting, the BBC has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations while the Police scope future work.”
The statement then continued: “We know that questions have been asked about how the complaint was initially managed. So today we have published an update that sets out key dates and some additional information that we are currently able to share.” It continued: “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 statement went on: “The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be.” It added: “And how vital it is that they are handled with the utmost diligence and care.”
It then added: “There will, of course, be lessons to be learned following this exercise. Although the current issues has not yet been fully resolved, the Director-General has asked Leigh Tavaziva, the BBC’s Group Chief Operating Officer, to assess whether our protocols and procedures are appropriate in light of this case.” They will “report to the BBC Board on this in due course”.
The corporation then issued an update about what happened when.
Ket dates update
“By law, individuals are entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy,” it said. The statement then added this “somewhat restricts the information available to be shared by the BBC at this time”. It went on: “The BBC may add to the information below as appropriate,” the statement said.
It then shared details on what happened when.
May 18: “The complainant (a family member) attended a BBC building, where they sought to make a complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter.”
May 19: “The complainant contacted BBC Audience Services; the details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team.”
Also on May 19: “The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services. The assessment made was that on the basis of the information provided it did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation.”
May 19: “The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team emailed the complainant stating how seriously the BBC takes the issue and seeking additional information to verify the claims being made. There was no response to this contact. Checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant. This is a standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are.”
‘This call did not connect’
June 6: “Having received no response to the email referenced above, a phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team. This call did not connect.”
The statement then added: “Following these attempts to make contact with the complainant, the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks. No additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June. However, the case remained open throughout.”
Things then went quiet for a few weeks. The BBC said the next update came in July.
Fast-forward to July
July 6: “The Sun informed the BBC via the Corporate Press Office of allegations concerning a BBC presenter. It became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family as approached the BBC on May 18 and 19. This was the first time that the Director-General or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.”
The statement added: “The claims made by The Sun contained new allegations, that were different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations.”
It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.
Also on July 6: “The BBC initiated an incident management group to lead the response to this case, involving senior BBC executives including the Director-General. The Acting Chairman was updated. The Board was regularly updated in the coming days.
“A senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned.” The statement said this was “to make him aware of the claims being outlined by The Sun”. The statement continued: “It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.”
July 7: “Following The Sun’s contact, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations team contacted the complainant again, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators.”
Also: “The BBC’s Serious Case Management Framework (SCMF) was initiated and the investigation being undertaken by the Corporate Investigations Team was brought into the SCMF, which is chaired by a Human Resources Director.”
Police involvement
July 7: “The BBC also made contact with the Police with regard to this matter.”
July 8 and 9: “The complainant sent the BBC some materials related to the complaint.”
Also on July 9: “The BBC issued an update to staff and the media. The BBC also confirmed that it had suspended the presenter.”
July 10: “The BBC met with the Police, to report the matter and discuss how to progress the investigation. The Police have requested that the BBC pause its investigations into the allegations while they scope future work.”
Teen responds
The young person in question has now denied all the allegations. Last night they released a statement through a lawyer. They have called them “rubbish“. Their parents are standing by the claims, though. There are also increasing calls for the BBC to name the star.
Read more: Parents of youngster at centre of BBC scandal slam presenter
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