Police called in as corporation ‘faces toughest week since Jimmy Savile scandal’
The BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager tens of thousands of pounds over several years for sexually explicit photos could face prison, a leading obscenity lawyer has said.
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Facing one of its biggest crises in years, the corporation announced on Sunday that it had suspended the as-yet unnamed presenter and contacted the Metropolitan Police.
Amid accusations of a dereliction of duty and even a cover-up, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the BBC must look at the “chronology” of allegations and “who knew what and when”.
What did the papers say?
The teenager’s family first made a complaint to the BBC in May, according to The Sun, which broke the story. Yet the presenter was allowed to stay on air while an internal investigation was carried out.
It was only last Thursday, according to a senior BBC source speaking to The Times, that managers kicked into “crisis mode” when claims of a “different nature” were revealed. The story was made public on Friday, sparking a wave of public and political anger. The BBC then suspended the star on Sunday and called in the police.
The Sun accused the “well-known presenter” of appearing in his underwear in a video call and having given the teenager more than £35,000 since they were 17 in return for “sordid images”. The presenter made two “panicked” calls to the now-20-year-old after the story broke last week, asking “what have you done?” and trying to get their mother to put a stop to the investigation, the paper claimed today. The mother also alleged that her child had provided “performances” for the BBC employee and used the money to fund an addiction to crack cocaine.
This is BBC Director-General Tim Davie’s “biggest test”, said The Daily Telegraph. He is facing questions about why the presenter remained on air for seven weeks after the initial allegation, while “Match of the Day” host Gary Lineker was suspended for posting a tweet criticising the government’s immigration policy.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told GB News the corporation was in a “mess” over the row, while Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the allegations “call into question the ethics, the investigations [and] how long these things take”.
If Davie puts “even a toe out of place”, said The Telegraph, the scandal could cost him his job. “His career is hanging on what happens next.”
What next?
The two “burning” questions this morning in relation to the allegations are “do they amount to a crime and why isn’t he being named by journalists?”, said Dominic Casciani, home and legal correspondent for the BBC. In regards to the latter, “this is a complicated newsroom equation that criss-crosses between editorial ethics and the law.”
The problem, he added, it that “as of Sunday, the BBC star story is more questions than answers” and The Sun’s coverage is “somewhat coy about specifics”.
With speculation rife, a number of BBC presenters have distanced themselves from the allegations on social media over the last few days.
As to whether they represent a criminal offence, the allegations are “fairly straightforward”, said Casciani. While 17 is over the age of sexual consent, the Protection of Children Act 1978 states that it is a crime to take, make, share and possess indecent images of people under 18. The maximum prison sentence is 10 years.
Myles Jackman, a leading obscenity lawyer, told The Guardian the presenter could face a six-month prison sentence if they are found guilty of a criminal offence, although this “could increase substantially if they are found to have shared those images”, added the paper.
As for Davie, the next few days will be crucial to his future. Although the director-general was not made aware of the accusations until journalists contacted the BBC on Thursday, “he will be judged by his handling of the fallout – just as George Entwistle was judged by his handling of the decades-old Savile scandal”, said The Times.
“This could be the corporation’s toughest week since then.”
