The BBC presenter embroiled in the sexting scandal faces fresh allegations after allegedly forwarding "creepy" messages to a 17-year-old.
It is alleged the unnamed presenter randomly sent a message via Instagram DM's to a teenager which had 'hearts and kisses'' in it, The Mirror reports.
It is not certain whether the presenter knew the age of the person they were texting at the tiem.
Read More: Shamed BBC presenter's bold move that blew his cover, according to alleged victim's mum
The fourth individual to come forward and make claims against the household name said the messages were "creepy", five years after the conversation began. In later messages, the broadcaster appears to be reply in a blunt way after the recipient didn't reciprocate.
In messages sent to The Sun, the presenter allegedly sent a heart emoji, before the teen replied: "Ahahah sweet," while adding: "How's it going over at the BBC?" The presenter replied: "All good thanks x. You ok?" before sending another heart emoji.
"Aha yeah why," asked the teen before the presenter said: "Just being polite x". The pair chatted throughout the day about their daily antics before the teenager questioned: "How's your work going? Must be really interesting."
The teen forwarded the broadcaster a picture on November 11, which received a red love heart emoji.
A correspondence sent on January 10 said: "Hi [star's name] I've got the opportunity to take part in the BBC ****** **** *****. It's my last year at school and sounds like it might be fun. Do you think I should go for it?" to which he said: "Yes no question."
Talking with The Sun, the teen stated: "Looking back now it does seem creepy because he was messaging me when I was still at school. In light of everything now, I feel shocked because as a broadcaster it is a name everyone would trust. I had no reason to think it was anything beyond that at that time."
The teen said they were "stunned" by the initial message as they recognised the broadcaster before adding: "Knowing what I know now, I feel I was a bit naïve. In light of what I know now, it feels as though when he realised I was not flirtatious back, he changed in the way he would reply."
Yesterday, the BBC said it "takes these matters extremely seriously."
BBC boss Tim Davie said: "I think it's right and fair-minded that they [investigators] should make contact with the individual who made that initial allegation to audience services, get some verification and talk to that person and understand exactly what they're dealing with before they raise that with an individual [presenter]."
The Metropolitan Police will now look into the allegations that a presenter paid for explicit images and are deciding whether a criminal investigation will be launched.
A statement from the BBC, shared yesterday, says: "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.
"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.
"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 events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is that they are handled with the utmost diligence and care. 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, and report to the BBC Board on this in due course."
A timeline of dates has also been publicly released, which shows the day they had received a complaint from parents of the young person whom the presenter, who is alleged to have paid £35,000 to for sexually explicit photos.
Here is the timeline:
May 18: The BBC were approached by a family member of the anonymous teen on May 18, where the complainant visited a BBC building to make the complaint.
May 19: The family member then contacted the BBC Audience Services on May 19 and 'details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team'.
On the same day, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team 'assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services'.
The BBC adds: "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".
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".
And, "checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant", which the corporation described as a "standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are".
June 6: After receiving "no response" from the complainant following the email. A "phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team". However the "call did not connect".
The BBC adds: "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."
July 6: The BBC was informed by The Sun newspaper via the press office of the allegations.
The broadcaster adds: "it became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family as approached the BBC on 18 and 19 May".
Further, it adds: "This was the first time that the Director-General or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case".
It has also been claimed the allegations set out by the newspaper "contained new allegations" which were "different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations."
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, and the Board was regularly updated in the coming days".
It adds, "a senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned, to make him aware of the claims being outlined" by the newspaper.
It was then "agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered".
July 7: Following the contact from the newspaper, the BBC's Corporate Investigations team "contacted the complainant again, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators".
It adds: "The BBC 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."
The BBC also made contact with the police over the allegations.
July 8 and July 9: The BBC was sent "materials" by the complainant which were "related to the complaint".
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".
