BBC presenter scandal: It’s Savile all over again at the BBC

It was revealed on Friday in The Sun newspaper that a top BBC star has been taken off air after ‘paying teenager for sexual pictures.’

The background to the exclusive is that the mother of a young person complained to the BBC, that over a three-year period, one of its hugely respected household presenters has allegedly made payments of £35,000 to her child.

The mum alleges that it all began when her child was 17 years old and they are now 20.

The allegation is incredibly serious and yet it took the BBC many days before someone from the corporation finally got in contact with her.

Yes, the presenter has been removed from the programme, taking ‘gardening leave’, however that is not how these matters should be investigated.

So on Saturday, I called for the presenter to be suspended and then yesterday the BBC after having sat on a ticking time-bomb finally suspended him.

The BBC released a statement saying they were working as fast as possible “to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate steps.”

The complaint from the child’s mother was first made on May 19th – which means it’s taken them almost 50 days to take any action and suspend the presenter.

It was frustration that the child’s mother had with the way the BBC was handling her complaint that led her to go to The Sun newspaper to break its exclusive.

‘Very serious questions’ should be asked of BBC’s safeguarding and reporting

Very serious questions now need to be asked of the BBC’s own safeguarding and reporting procedures.

Once they received the complaint was it discussed with the Local Area Designated Officer (LADO) in children’s services?

We know it was not reported to the police as that only happened yesterday. And what did they do to protect both the organisation, the individual himself and very significantly children and young people? It seems very little if anything.

The presenter was not suspended, but were they even told about the allegations?

Because if they were, then the reports that the presenter contacted the young person concerned after the story appeared in The Sun, which would appear to be an attempt to get the story quashed, makes for very worrying reading.

The last 72 hours have taken me back to late September 2012 when I and my team approached the BBC for an interview with its Director General to put to them the allegations I was about to make in my TV programme expose of its iconic TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

The BBC initially rebuffed us, undermined our allegations and said they did not warrant any investigation.

However, over the forthcoming weeks, the story grew, just like this one has and then in the days just before broadcast on October 3rd the BBC did an almost 180-degree u-turn, taking my investigation and programme very seriously and launching an investigation.

What followed was the BBC pressing its own self-destruct button and a perfect example of how not to handle a crisis.

I have huge respect for the BBC and count among my friends and colleagues, presenters, reporters and staff, but sadly yet again the BBC has mishandled a straightforward case on an epic level.

The massive question now is when will the presenter be named. Well his name is widely circulating on social media and if you pull the strands together from the media stories it is not hard at all to work out who it is.

They have of course gone into hiding. For now, I cannot see a media outlet naming them.

It’s an almost identical situation to Rolf Harris, who I in fact was the first to name and was spot-on with my information.

So how will the public be formally told who they are? Well right now I only see this occurring, if the individual or a representative of them makes a statement, or an MP takes the steps to name them in the house.