The BBC presenter facing allegations he paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos has been accused of sending “threatening messages” to a young person he met on a dating app, the broadcaster reported.
According to BBC News, the person in their early 20s met the presenter on a dating app before their conversations moved to other platforms.
The presenter then revealed his identity and asked the young person not to tell anyone, it reported.
The young person later posted online alluding to having had contact with a BBC presenter and hinted they might name him, it was reported.
The presenter then sent a number of “threatening messages" which the BBC says it has seen and confirmed came from a phone number belonging to the presenter.
The BBC said the young person felt “threatened" by the messages and remained “scared".
BBC News said it had contacted the presenter via his lawyer but had received no response to the new allegations.
Claims against the unnamed member of BBC staff first emerged in the Sun newspaper, which quoted a mother who claimed her child, now 20, was paid by the presenter for explicit photos.
A lawyer for that young person rubbished the allegations on Monday, saying they were untrue.
However, in a fresh interview, the family stood by their claims.The allegations have promoted intense scrutiny on the BBC, with the family alleging that their complaints about the BBC star were not dealt with satisfactorily.
The broadcaster on Tuesday published a timetable showing a family member of the young person made the first complaint in person at a “BBC building” on May 18 and a day later the investigations team ruled “it did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation”.
It said two attempts had been made to contact the family involved, before the Sun approached them with new claims last week.
BBC presenter Jeremy Vine said in light of the latest allegationshe is starting to believe the star at the centre of the allegations should come forward and name himself.
Vine, who threatened legal action in recent days after social media users falsely accused him of being the person involved, said that person should unmask himself in the wake of fresh allegations that he was abusive to a person in their early 20s he met on a dating app.
The Radio 2 presenter said of his BBC colleague: “I’m starting to think the BBC Presenter involved in the scandal should now come forward publicly.
“These new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his. And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this.”
However, he stressed: “But it is his decision and his alone.”
It comes as a police force confirmed that it was contacted by the parents of the first young person concerned in the scandal.
The parents of the first youngster told the Sun newspaper, who first reported the claims, that they had contacted police over the unnamed BBC staff member.
A force confirmed that it was contacted in April, and said that “no criminality was identified".
It has met with the Met Police and the BBC and said “further enquiries” were ongoing to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence.
Separately on Tuesday, the Met Police asked the BBC to pause its own internal investigations into the claims so that it could carry out “scoping work”.
However, a Met spokesperson said: “There remains no police investigation at this time.”
BBC chief Tim Davie told reporters the BBC had “not been given a time scale” by officers into how long enquiries would take.
Mr Davie refused to say if the presenter involved had offered his resignation, saying he “wouldn’t comment on a private conversation” and said issues of privacy and public interest had to be balanced throughout the process.
Mr Davie said the BBC will “pass any material we have” to investigating officers and admitted “questions have been asked about how this case was initially managed” and that “lessons will be learned” about how complaints are dealt with.
