Claims BBC presenter facing explicit photos allegations ‘broke lockdown rules’

A view of BBC Broadcasting house. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A 23-year-old person has claimed the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit photos broke lockdown rules to meet them during the pandemic, The Sun reported.

The newspaper said it has seen messages which suggest the presenter travelled to see the young person in February 2021, after meeting them on a dating website the previous November.

The 23-year-old told the Sun the presenter travelled from London to a different county to meet them at their flat, when strict coronavirus lockdown rules were in place including a stay at home order and mixing only between household bubbles.

The young person told the newspaper: “He came round for an hour…. We just chatted. He was obsessed with me making him a cup of tea.”

They said the presenter also gave them more than £600 in three payments, which the newspaper said messages also suggest.

The 23-year-old also claimed the presenter asked if next week was good to meet on December 18 2020, when restrictions meant a ban on households mixing indoors.

However, the young person claims he made “excuses not to meet him” until two months later.

The person told the newspaper: “The BBC were briefing the nation on the rules — when their star who was part of the institution was quite happy to break them.”

The Sun said it had approached the BBC and the presenter for comment and would hand over evidence to the BBC’s investigation team.

They appear to be a separate person to the others who have made claims against the presenter, who has been suspended by the BBC.

The Sun first made allegations on Friday about the unnamed presenter, claiming a different young person was paid around £35,000 over three years, from the age of 17, for sexually explicit images.

On Tuesday, BBC News reported a person in their early 20s – who the broadcaster said is not connected to the person in the first report by the Sun  – allegedly received threatening messages from the presenter.

According to the broadcaster, the presenter – who the BBC announced at the weekend has been suspended – met the young person on a dating app, not in person and asked the young person not to tell anyone.

The young person later posted online alluding to having had contact with the presenter and hinted they might name him.

The presenter then allegedly sent a number of “threatening messages”, which the BBC says it has seen and confirmed came from a phone number belonging to the unnamed man.

The BBC said the young person felt “threatened” by the messages and “remains scared”.

BBC News said it had contacted the presenter via his lawyer, but had received no response to the allegations.