A senior and prominent male BBC presenter was suspended after being accused of spending over $44,000 to obtain explicit images from a 17-year-old.
On July 12, Huw Edward’s wife Vicky Flind came forward naming him as the BBC presenter who is being accused of sexual misconduct.
From the BBC’s handling of the latest scandal being heavily criticized to a lawyer for the accuser denying that anything inappropriate happened between his client and the renowned BBC personality, here is everything we know about the case so far:
The Sun broke the news
British tabloid The Sun was the first one to break the news of the damaging claims made against the unnamed BBC presenter on Friday, July 7. The newspaper also reportedly informed the BBC via the press office about the allegations.
The mother of the accuser reportedly spoke to the tabloid saying her child, who is presently 20 years old, had used the money that they allegedly received from the accused presenter for explicit photos, to buy crack cocaine. The mother said that the accuser’s family was afraid that they could “wind up dead”.
A spokesperson for the Sun said: “We have reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behavior of a presenter and the welfare of their child. Their complaint was not acted upon by the BBC. We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It’s now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
The BBC was reportedly made aware of the complaint about sexual misconduct in May. The corporation was also made aware that “new allegations” on the matter surfaced on Thursday, the day before the Sun first published its claims.
In a follow-up article, the Sun claimed that the BBC presenter made two “panicked calls” to the accuser after the original story was published.
BBC says in a statement they had suspended the accused presenter
“The BBC first became aware of a complaint in May. New allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature and in addition to our own inquiries, we have also been in touch with external authorities, in line with our protocols. We can also confirm a male member of staff has been suspended. We expect to be in a position to provide a further update in the coming days as the process continues,” a spokesperson said.
The statement added: “The BBC board will continue to be kept up to date. The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations. This is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances and the BBC is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts in order to properly inform appropriate next steps. It is important that these matters are handled fairly and with care. We have been clear that if – at any point – new information comes to light or is provided to us, this will be acted upon appropriately and actively followed up.”
BBC stars scramble to deny the accused presenter is them
As some “malicious communications” on social media besmirched the names of top presenters of the broadcaster, including Nicky Campbell and Jeremi Vine by falsely accusing them, they publicly denied being the accused presenter.
Both Campbell and Vine have denied being the presenter who has been accused of sexual misconduct. “I think it’s important to take a stand. There are just too many of these people on social media. Thanks for your support friends,” he tweeted on the day the scandal broke.
However, he has continued to be targeted by trolls on the internet. He said that he had a “distressing weekend” due to being incorrectly pointed a finger at. He has been in contact with the police and has also gotten in touch with lawyers in case he wants to sue for defamation over tweets or Facebook posts which falsely continue to accuse him as the suspect.
Vine – who hosts a show on BBC Radio 2 – said, “It certainly ain’t me,” distancing himself from the narrative. “Just to say I’m very much looking forward to hosting my radio show on Monday — whoever the ‘BBC Presenter’ in the news is, I have the same message for you as Rylan did earlier: it certainly ain’t me,” he said.
Gary Lineker has also publicly denied being the man accused, tweeting this evening: “Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.”
The Metropolitan Police released a statement saying, “On Saturday, July 8, police received a report of malicious communications in relation to a post on social media. An investigation is underway and inquiries are ongoing. There have been no arrests.”
No formal complaint has been filed against the accused BBC presenter
The Metropolitan police have confirmed that they have spoken to BBC about the presenter who was suspended but the broadcaster is yet to file a formal complaint about the unnamed individual.
According to Daily Mail, the Met said that BBC is yet to make a “formal referral or allegation,” which is contrary to what Tim Davie, the director-general of BBC said regarding the investigation being conducted into the accused presenter. He said on Sunday that the corporation was investigating “swiftly and sensitively” the “deeply concerning” claims after holding urgent talks with the government.
A Met spokesperson said in a statement: “The Met has received initial contact from the BBC in relation to this matter but no formal referral or allegation had been made. We will require additional information before determining what further action should follow.”
Also Read | BBC has not filed any formal complaint against presenter accused of sexual misconduct: Metropolitan police
Lawyer for accuser says BBC presenter scandal is “rubbish”
An article published by BBC News on Monday, July 10 said that a lawyer for the accuser wrote a letter to the broadcaster throwing doubt on the allegations which were broken by The Sun in a bombshell article.
The lawyer said that his client had sent a denial to Ths Sun on Friday evening — the day the original article was published — saying that there was “no truth to it”. The lawyer mentioned that the “inappropriate article” still remains published on the tabloid’s site.
In their letter, the lawyer writes: “For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish.”
Meanwhile, BBC has explicitly made it clear that they have not spoken to the alleged accuser directly or not seen any of the evidence, or the dossier the Sun said was handed to the corporation by the family of the accuser over the weekend.
BBC pauses internal investigation after talking to Metropolitan police
Davie told reporters at the broadcaster’s annual report conference that they had been instructed to “pause” their own investigation and send any relevant information to the Met Police with regards to the BBC broadcaster scandal.
Also Read | BBC ‘pauses’ investigation into presenter accused of paying teen for explicit photos: Here’s why
The Met Police has confirmed it asked the BBC to pause its investigation into allegations. In a statement following Tim Davie’s press conference, the department said in a statement: “We have asked the BBC to pause its own investigation while we continue our assessment to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed.”
Tim Davie says he hasn’t spoken to the accused presenter
BBC Director General Tim Davie defended his decision not to have spoken to the presenter who was suspended following the sexual misconduct accusation.
“I think it is critical they are spoken to a very senior manager,” Davie said, adding, that he did not think it was “odd.” As director general, he said he felt he is “playing the right role” in overseeing the situation.
The BBC senior management reportedly only discussed the allegations with the accused presenter last Thursday. When Davie was asked why the presenter has not been spoken to about the allegations sooner, he said: “If you’ve got an allegation coming into a corporate investigations team you need to balance the concerns of duty of care and privacy. You don’t take that complaint directly to the presenter unless it has been verified. It is right to validate that and to have the specialist team talk to the individual before taking it forward.”
Also Read | BBC director general Tim Davie hasn’t spoken to presenter accused of sexual misconduct: It’s not ‘odd’
A second young person comes forward with accusation of ‘abusive texts’
On Tuesday, July 11, a second young person reportedly spoke to BBC News saying they felt threatened by the same presenter who is allegedly involved in the sexual misconduct scandal.
The individual in question is in their early 20s and allegedly first came in contact with the accused presenter through a dating app. At the time, the accuser was not aware of the identity of the presenter. Although they were reportedly pressurized to meet the accused, they never did. At some point, the presenter revealed his identity to the accuser and requested them to keep it a secret.
Also Read | BBC presenter accused of sexual misconduct allegedly sent abusive texts to second young person on dating app
When the young person suggested they might name the presenter on social media, the accused sent them abusive, expletive-filled messages.
The second young person has no connection to the first accuser. As for why they did not choose to come forward earlier, they said that they had been scared by the position of power held by the presenter
The threatening messages have been seen and verified by BBC News.
Huw Edwards’ wife Vicky Flind names her husband as the accused BBC presenter
Vicky Flind revealed that her husband, Huw Edwards is currently dealing with mental health challenges and is receiving treatment in a hospital. She emphasized that he will remain in inpatient care for the foreseeable future and requested privacy for her family during this difficult time.
In response to recent news concerning a “BBC presenter,” Flind stated her concerns for her husband, Huw. She acknowledged that the previous five days had been extremely difficult for her family and said she is making this statement in order to put her husband’s mental health first and to protect their children, as reported by the Guardian.
She also claimed that he intends to respond to all the allegations that have been published after he has healed sufficiently. Huw was first made aware of the accusations against him last Thursday.
BBC employees come forward with allegations against Huw Edwards
After Edwards was named bu his wife as the accused presenter, three BBC employees have come forward with new claims about their interactions with Edwards. Two previous employees claimed to have also received texts that made them uncomfortable, and one current employee claimed that Edwards had sent them inappropriate and suggestive messages.
Lucy Manning, special correspondent at BBC News, said: “A current BBC employee said this year they had received suggestive messages on social media from the presenter. BBC News has seen the messages which refer to the BBC staff member’s appearance and they are flirtatious.”
She added: “Another BBC worker and a former one have also told Newsnight they received what they perceived to be more inappropriate social media messages from the presenter that made them feel uncomfortable.”
