BBC: Claims about presenter 'rubbish' - young person's lawyer

Claims made by the mother at the heart of the BBC presenter scandal are "rubbish", a lawyer representing the young person has said.

In a letter to the BBC, the lawyer makes claims that throw doubt on the story that has dominated front pages through the weekend.

It says the young person sent a denial to the Sun on Friday evening saying there was "no truth to it".

However, the "inappropriate article" was still published, the lawyer said.

A spokesperson for the Sun said: "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.

"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."

BBC News does not know the identity of the young person and has not spoken directly to them.

It has not seen any of the Sun's body of evidence, or the dossier the Sun reported was handed to the corporation by the family over the weekend.

In their letter, the lawyer writes: "For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish."

The Metropolitan Police are "assessing" information from the BBC over the allegations made against the presenter.

Detectives held a virtual meeting with BBC representatives on Monday, a spokesperson for the force said.

The Sun published claims on Friday that a BBC presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos.

The newspaper claimed that the man had paid the individual tens of thousands of pounds for the images, starting when the young person was 17.

The BBC said it first became aware of a complaint in May, and that "new allegations" were received on Thursday, the day before the Sun first published its claims.

On Sunday, the Sun reported that the young person's family was said to be upset by the corporation's latest response, alleging "no-one from the BBC rang them for a proper interview after the initial complaint".

The paper also claimed the BBC presenter made what it called two "panicked calls" to the young person - who is now 20 - after the original story came out.

The BBC said on Sunday that a staff member had been suspended, but has not identified him.

In a statement, the corporation said it was working as fast as possible "to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps".