BBC takes presenter off air over allegations he paid £35,000 to teenager for sexual photos

The mother of the youth said her child had used the money to fund a crack cocaine habit

The BBC said it takes allegations seriously after a mother claimed a presenter paid her child for explicit photos. EPA

The BBC has said it takes “any allegations very seriously” following reports that one of its male presenters had been taken off air after allegedly paying a teenager £35,000 for sexually explicit photos.

The mother of the youngster claimed she had seen a bank statement from her child’s account showing deposits from the TV star.

The identity and gender of her child, now aged 20, have not been revealed.

Speaking to The Sun, she said she had raised a complaint about the man with the BBC on May 19.

The newspaper referred to him as a “well-known presenter”.

The employee is not scheduled to appear on air in the coming days, according to the BBC.

The woman said the payments started to appear when her child was aged 17.

The youth had used the cash to fund their crack cocaine habit, she added.

“There were huge sums, hundreds, or thousands of pounds at a time,” she said.

“One time he had sent £5,000 in one lump. The money had been in exchange for sexually explicit photographs of my child.”

In response to The Sun’s report, a BBC spokesperson said: “We treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them.

“As part of that, if we receive information that requires further investigation or examination we will take steps to do this.

“That includes actively attempting to speak to those who have contacted us in order to seek further detail and understanding of the situation.

“If we get no reply to our attempts or receive no further contact that can limit our ability to progress things but it does not mean our enquiries stop.

“If, at any point, new information comes to light or is provided – including via newspapers – this will be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes.”