Helena Wilkinson
At Scotland Yard

We now have confirmation that a virtual meeting took place this morning between the Met Police and representatives from the BBC regarding allegations against one of the corporation’s presenters.

We also know the detectives involved in discussions were from the Met's Specialist Crime Command.

They will now go away and spend time assessing the information that was discussed at the meeting.

Police will also carry out further enquiries to "establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed".

At this stage, there isn't an investigation, but that could potentially change once detectives make their assessments and carry out further enquiries.

It’s important to remember that the allegations against the BBC presenter are just that at this stage. He may be innocent of all the claims.

To get a sense of how this situation unfolded, here's a timeline of all the events so far:

• Friday 19 May: The young person's family complain to the BBC about one of its presenters, according to the Sun newspaper
• Thursday 6 July: Allegations "of a different nature" are put to the BBC, according to director general Tim Davie
• Friday 7 July: The Sun publishes claims that a BBC presenter paid a teenager £35,000 for sexually explicit photos
• Saturday 8 July: The Sun on Sunday publishes more details of the presenter's alleged actions
• Sunday 9 July: The BBC confirms a presenter has been suspended and the corporation is in touch with police - with the Met confirming an "initial contact" has been received
• Later on Sunday: The Sun publishes more revelations claiming the presenter made "panicked calls" to the young person, and reports that the family are upset with the BBC's response to the allegations

Many details surrounding the complaint against an unnamed presenter and how the BBC dealt with it remain unclear, the BBC's culture and media editor says.

Speaking to Radio 4's World at One, Katie Razzall says there is a gap of nearly two months between when the issue was first flagged by the family and last week when the BBC says it was given new allegations of a "different nature".

Razzall says the BBC insists its protocols were followed and attempts were made to contact the family, however the course of events remain uncertain.

"We’re told Tim Davie, the director general, didn't know about this until last Thursday, so it clearly hadn't escalated up to him," she says, "and if it is a high profile presenter, some people will be surprised to hear that it was only on Thursday he had this information."

"But that's what we have to go on at the moment," she adds.

Let's have a look at the full Metropolitan Police statement, which has just come to us.

In the last few moments, we've had an update from the Metropolitan Police.

A statement says police are "assessing the information" discussed at a meeting that took place earlier today between the force and the BBC.

"Further enquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed," the Met says.

It adds: "There is no investigation at this time."

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here's a look at what's been going on.

• Talks are taking place today between the BBC and the Metropolitan Police to discuss allegations that a presenter paid a teenager for explicit photographs
• The claims, first reported by the Sun on Friday, include that the young person used the money to fund a drug habit
• The male presenter was suspended by the BBC yesterday and has not been named for many legal reasons
• The BBC says it is "working as quickly as possible to establish the facts"
• Former ITN boss Stewart Purvis said earlier that the Met will likely ask for details about the BBC's investigation
• Alex Chalk, the UK's justice secretary, has urged the BBC to "get its house in order" and suggested a further review may be needed to find out who knew what inside the corporation and when

Lizo Mzimba
Entertainment correspondent

This is what the BBC will be under particular scrutiny about - when the initial complaint was made, what happened then? And how much information was the BBC given?

Did the BBC ask for other evidence? Did the BBC interview the presenter? Did the BBC consider suspending the presenter? Did the BBC continue interviewing the family making the complaint, and what is the process that happened between then back in May and now where we are?

The BBC has, of course, said in a statement that new, different allegations were put to it on Thursday and this appears to have led to the presenter being suspended.

But there will be, when this has all passed through, a very long hard look, and I imagine probably a lot of those findings will be made public, at what the BBC did and how well it did it.

From the BBC's point of view, it has an extra remit as well as just doing the right things behind the scenes.

If we assume the BBC has done everything correctly behind the scenes, the public also expect an organisation like the BBC - which they pay for - to be as transparent as possible in telling them what is going on in events like this which cause so much public anxiety to the viewers, listeners and readers.

Image source, Reuters

Former editor of the Sun Kelvin MacKenzie has been speaking to our radio colleagues over at Radio 4 this afternoon. He says the identity of the BBC presenter would've been revealed by the newspaper in years gone by.

"In the good old days there would have been absolutely no doubt that the name would have been there, and any pictures associated with the story would have been published," MacKenzie tells the World at One programme.

But he says the media landscape has "changed dramatically" and "the advertiser is undeniably more important than the reader or the increased sales".

"The tabloids are prepared to strike but they aren't prepared to wound - for reasons more commercial than legal," MacKenzie says.

He suggests the BBC could find itself in a "bigger degree of trouble than the presenter" if it emerges that the mother contacted the Sun after getting no response from the corporation.

The paper has claimed that the family of the young person - who it reports was 17 when payments from the presenter began - made the BBC aware of their concerns on 19 May, but became frustrated when the presenter remained on air and they then decided to approach the Sun.

To get a sense of how this situation unfolded, here's a timeline of all the events so far:

• Friday 19 May: The young person's family complain to the BBC about one of its presenters, according to the Sun newspaper
• Thursday 6 July: Allegations "of a different nature" are put to the BBC, according to director general Tim Davie
• Friday 7 July: The Sun publishes claims that a BBC presenter paid a teenager £35,000 for sexually explicit photos
• Saturday 8 July: The Sun on Sunday publishes more details of the presenter's alleged actions
• Sunday 9 July: The BBC confirms a presenter has been suspended and the corporation is in touch with police - with the Met confirming an "initial contact" has been received
• Later on Sunday: The Sun publishes more revelations claiming the presenter made "panicked calls" to the young person, and reports that the family are upset with the BBC's response to the allegations

Sir Craig Oliver is a former senior editor at BBC News and worked for David Cameron as his director of communications at No 10 Downing Street. He thinks there is "a lot more to the case than meets the eye".

"I do think that alarm bells should be ringing for all of us," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We're on day three of this story, it has been the front page of the Sun for the last three days and they still have not named the presenter," he says.

Oliver says the paper has likely been advised against taking that step because "the burden of proof, in a lot of ways, has not been met".

More now from BBC Radio 5 Live listeners, who have been speaking to Nicky Campbell about allegations made against the unnamed BBC presenter.

Jane in Newton, a deputy head teacher, believes the safety of the then-teenager at the centre of the claims has been “overlooked".

“I would like to know at what point the family were made aware of these very serious allegations,” she says.

“As head of safeguarding at my school, I can tell you that everything should have been logged in a forensic way - the date, the time, who you spoke to, what the outcome was and what was going to be done."

Fran in Leeds believes “some consideration does need to be given to the other presenters”, amid speculation about the presenter's identity.

"If they’re reading about themselves and they're seeing all these horrible things, I mean that must be detrimental to their mental health…as an employer the BBC must have a duty of care to those employees,” she says.

Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell heard from licence fee payers on his radio show this morning, following allegations made against the unnamed BBC presenter.

Brian in Leicester is asking for “more transparency from the BBC”.

“They've had this complaint since May, we're now in July and it's only just coming out, what's happened since May?” Brian asks.

"We're all contributing to the salary, which I'm assuming is quite handsome for this person, we're also going to be paying towards the investigation…I just think transparency would help stop a lot of this speculation," he believes.

Lynn in Bristol worked in HR for 30 years. She feels nothing should be in the public domain “until investigations have taken place full and fair in the workplace".

"The police should be investigating but why newspapers and why the people on the internet feel that they have licence to say things, I find it abhorrent," she says.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says social media sites must ensure their platforms are "properly policed" after several BBC personalities were suggested to be the unnamed presenter suspended by the corporation.

"Both the users of social media sites and the sites themselves have responsibility," the official spokesman said.

People "should understand their responsibilities and putting baseless accusations online can carry consequences".

The spokesman added: "We have been very clear with the sites themselves about their responsibilities on making sure these things are properly policed."

Rishi Sunak has "full confidence" in BBC director general Tim Davie following the allegations made against a male presenter, Downing Street says.

The prime minister's official spokesman says Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer will keep a "close watch" on the handling of the case.

He added the allegations were "concerning", reiterating that Frazer spoke to Davie on Sunday and was assured that the BBC is investigating the claims.

No 10 adds the culture secretary will also keep a close watch on how the Met Police inquiry develops and "ensure she is regularly updated as appropriate".

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from Scotland Yard

We know that a meeting will take place between the BBC and the Metropolitan Police today. But where and when it will take place we don't know.

Nor do we know who from the corporation will be there and which unit within the Met will be involved.

It might be that if the BBC has information which it thinks could be relevant to the police, then that will be handed over.

What we're not going to get is a running commentary about the meeting, but if there is a significant development we expect to hear about it.

That could come in the form of a police investigation.

The reason the police have been contacted by the BBC is because of potential criminality in the allegations that have been made against one of its presenters.

Under the Protection of Children Act 1978, it is a crime to take, make, share or possess indecent images of people under 18.

The allegation from the mother - in an interview with the Sun - is that the BBC presenter began making payments to her child in exchange for explicit photos when the youngster was 17 years old.

Image source, PA Media

With stories like this one, BBC News journalists treat the BBC in the same way as any other organisation the news service reports on.

And like with any other organisation, BBC News has to ask BBC management or BBC services for responses and contact the BBC press office for official statements.

Occasionally BBC journalists approach senior managers for unplanned interviews - known as "doorsteps" in the news business.

They also sometimes get offered interviews with management - like this one with BBC director general Tim Davie over the Gary Lineker row.

And when this happens, they know they'll be scrutinised within and outside the BBC over how well they hold their boss to account.

If you're just joining us or need a recap on this matter, which the BBC has called "complex" and "fast moving", here's a round-up of what you need to know.

• For the last few days the BBC has appeared on the front pages of many newspapers, including the Sun which was the first to print allegations that a presenter had paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos
• The BBC confirmed yesterday that the as-yet unnamed male presenter has been suspended
• The Metropolitan Police said the BBC has made contact over the claims but no formal allegation has been made. It's understood that a meeting between the force and the BBC is taking place today
• The family of the young person alleged to be involved is said by the Sun to be upset by the BBC's latest response
• In a statement, the BBC said it first became aware of a complaint in May and then it received "new allegations" last Thursday. It added that it's working as quickly as possible to establish the facts
• Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the allegations need to be treated with "due caution and seriousness" and called for "prompt action" from the BBC
• Justice Secretary Alex Chalk suggested a review of the corporation's handling of the claims might need to be carried out

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent

An area of legal jeopardy in cases like this is privacy, one of the most complex areas of law journalists grapple with today.

A central question that has bounced around newsrooms this weekend is whether the person they want to point a finger at has a "reasonable expectation" of privacy in relation to the facts of the story.

Since a major Supreme Court ruling in 2022, a right to privacy covers people who are under investigation by a law enforcement agency - meaning the stage before they have been formally charged with a crime and sent to the courts.

The rationale for that protection is that if the police drop the case, they would have suffered untold unjustifiable damage to their reputation by being identified in the media.

Not all claims made against people in the public eye lead to provable evidence of wrongdoing.

Sometimes a complainant has an ulterior motive or, sadly, is unwell.

That's not to suggest the allegations should be brushed to one side and not taken seriously. On the contrary. It becomes all the more important to work out the truth.

But if journalists are short of actual facts, the legal risks they face in implicating someone in wrongdoing are huge.

• You can read more on this here

BBC presenters Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell have been speaking on the false accusations they've faced on social media about the identity of the presenter who has been suspended.

"Over the weekend, a number of names were thrown in... I was shocked that my name [appeared]," Vine, who presents a weekday show on BBC Radio 2, said on his Channel 5 show earlier.

"This is what social media does. It's just basically a massive fountain of sewage, and someone needs to put a cap on it," he said, adding he is "completely innocent of any of this".

Meanwhile Campbell, of BBC Radio 5 Live, spoke out, external over the weekend and revealed he had reported an anonymous Twitter account to the police over a post claiming he was the presenter in question.

On his Monday phone-in programme, he told listeners: "It was a distressing weekend, I can't deny it, for me and others falsely named. Today I'm having further communication with the police in terms of malicious communication and with lawyers in terms of defamation."

We'll bring you a round-up of his show a bit later on.

We have a bit more from Suella Braverman's interview earlier - she also touched on the issue of false rumours being posted on social media.

"We don't know the facts yet, a lot of it is speculative," the home secretary told ITV's Good Morning Britain, after urging the BBC to carry out its internal investigation to "establish the facts".

"In a case of serious allegations such as these, prompt action is of course absolutely vital for safeguarding purposes, for justice purposes, but also for propriety purposes," Braverman added.

As we said in our earlier post, lots of politicians are being asked about this matter and we'll keep bringing you what they say.