Dominic Casciani
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme

The law has in practice been developing since the Human Rights Act was incorporated into English law a good 20 years ago.

It was in 2018 that the Sir Cliff Richard case, ironically involving the BBC, really set an important precedent.

The High Court ruled that there had been a disproportionate invasion of his private life by the way the BBC had reported a police search of his home, which turned out to be based on a completely bogus and unwarranted accusation which detectives later dropped.

The even more important change since then was last year when the Supreme Court ruled that even somebody who's under investigation, in the earliest stages, by a law enforcement agency could be entitled to privacy.

Many journalists think this completely overturned what we long thought was the position.

So it's a very, very complicated position for us to be in.

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 also 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.

Katie Razzall
Culture editor

Remember, the Metropolitan Police has asked the BBC to pause their investigations while their own detectives scope out whether there is a criminal investigation.

So, the BBC is in limbo over what it can do.

It feels pretty unclear still whether this presenter’s name will come into the public domain and he will be identified.

Police clearly won't name him unless they charge him with a crime. The BBC hasn't up to now decided to do that, particularly as it has a duty of care towards an employee to balance along with other legal issues.

The Sun hasn't named him. So, then we are in this territory of would a newspaper be prepared to try to name him and fight it out? But, privacy laws in our country are very powerful.

Or, as Jeremy Vine is coming round to suggesting, the presenter identifies himself. But, as it stands that presenter hasn't shown any signs which suggest they will do that.

So it does feel like this is going to continue with more drip, drip, drip allegations.

Some thoughts now from Nathan Sparks who is the CEO of the campaign group Hacked Off - which was created in 2011 in response to the phone-hacking revelations and pushes for a free and accountable press for the public.

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme any public interest defence - should a news organisation want to name the presenter - is a "complicated judgement".

"I think it is important we stress this isn't just about the presenter," Nathan says. "It's also about the individual who the Sun are presenting here as the victim in this case who sold the images.

"When you name someone who is on the other end of this, you raise the risk of identifying the other person as well."

Nathan also points out the individual at the centre of the allegations has made denials via a lawyer there has been no wrongdoing or criminal activity.

The latest revelations about the unnamed BBC presenter have been called "very significant" and "corroborative" by Prof Lis Howell, emeritus professor of journalism at London's City University.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, she says the presenter "really ought to come forward and talk about it", adding that it would be "cathartic", "informative" and would "probably be the right thing to do".

Howell, who is also a former managing editor for Sky News, says the public want to know what's going on and only when they understand what's happened can they decide how they feel about the presenter.

"If this goes on for a long time it's going to get worse and worse for everyone involved," she says.

Image source, EPA

On Friday, the Sun newspaper published allegations that a BBC presenter paid a young person for explicit photos.

The Sun says the person's parents turned to them after their complaints to the BBC failed to lead to the presenter being taken off air.

On Sunday it emerged the presenter had been suspended.

On Monday a lawyer for the young person disputed the parents' account but the parents responded by saying they stood by their allegations.

The Met said it was assessing the allegations but said there was currently no police investigation.

On Tuesday the BBC came out with an updated timeline, saying it twice tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the complainant.

It was only when the Sun story broke that the director general and executive directors were told about the case, the corporation says.

Later, BBC News quoted a young person as saying the same BBC presenter contacted them on a dating app, pressured them to meet up, and later sent threatening messages.

On Tuesday night the Sun published a new story claiming the presenter broke Covid rules to a meet a different young person they had met on a dating site. The BBC has not verified these claims.

It is day five of revelations by the Sun, so let's have a look at its latest story claiming the BBC presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old he had met on a dating site.

He sent, what the Sun describes, as "quite pressurising" messages.

The tabloid says it has seen messages which suggest that as well as visiting the 23-year-old's home, he also sent money and asked for a picture. He was sent a semi-naked photograph, the paper says.

In Tuesday night's story the Sun also claims the presenter travelled to meet them at their flat in February 2021, despite national lockdown restrictions.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify these latest claims.

A reminder of some of the remarks made by BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine who believes the unnamed presenter involved should "come forward" and identify himself.

In a tweet posted on Tuesday, he said new claims by the BBC about a second and different young person would result in "more vitriol being thrown" at colleagues who were not involved.

He wrote:

Vine is one of several celebrities, including Nicky Campbell, Gary Lineker and Rylan Clark, who have publicly stated they are not the presenter in question, since the allegations were first made public.

The BBC’s Analysis editor Ros Atkins examines four key questions relating to allegations made by the Sun newspaper about the BBC presenter at the centre of the ongoing scandal.

Image source, .

Wednesday's front pages continue to be dominated by stories on the conduct of the unnamed BBC presenter after further allegations were published on Tuesday.

The Sun - who broke the story - reports that it has spoken to an individual who claims the presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet them.

The i newspaper and Metro continue in a similar vein, focusing on a young person who spoke to BBC News on Tuesday and accused the unnamed BBC presenter of sending "abusive messages".

The Daily Telegraph also leads on the story, reporting on the words of former BBC newsreader Kate Silverton, who accused the BBC of "not prioritising the needs of the victim when the first complaint was made".

Read more here.

Here's a reminder of the key things that happened yesterday.

• A police force confirmed it was contacted in April about the unnamed presenter by the parents of the young person at the centre of allegations reported in the Sun. The force says the "no criminality was identified" at the time but that further enquiries are now ongoing
• Meanwhile, a second young person has made allegations to the BBC about the unnamed presenter. The individual, who is in their early 20s, said the presenter put them under pressure to meet up. When the young person hinted online they might name the presenter, they were sent abusive, expletive-filled messages
• The BBC set out a timeline detailing when the allegations were made to the broadcaster
• In it, the corporation said senior managers only put the claims to the presenter last Thursday - seven weeks after the initial complaint
• In an interview with the BBC, director general Tim Davie defended the BBC's response, insisting the right process had to be followed before the presenter was approached by a senior manager
• He also said he had asked a senior BBC figure to look into whether the corporation's processes for raising "red flags" are fit for purpose in light of the recent revelations

Katie Razzall
Culture editor

After a day in which the BBC produced a fuller timeline of its actions through this story, where are we now?

For the BBC, key questions remain, primarily around what it did having received the complaint in May.

It's difficult to assess the actions of the Corporate Investigations Team without knowing exactly the detail of the complaint. We still don't have that.

But on the face of it, one email attempt that the complainant didn't respond to and one phone call that didn't connect don't, on the surface of it, look like huge efforts were made to check out the allegations.

Over nearly seven weeks.

That might have been understandable if the complaint had been about a presenter getting a fact wrong in a broadcast.

But we know that it was deemed serious by the BBC, though not involving criminality. A serious complaint about a high-profile presenter, reportedly involving huge sums of money to a younger person, surely warranted more dedicated investigation.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Vine, who hosts shows on BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5, has urged the unidentified presenter to come forward.

He said the latest allegations would result in “yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues” at the BBC.

“I’m starting to think that the BBC presenter involved in the scandal should now come forward publicly,” he wrote on Twitter.

“And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this. But it is his decision and his alone.”

TalkTV host Piers Morgan said that the unnamed presenter should say who he is “for the good of his colleagues, the BBC and himself”.

Speaking on TalkTV, he said: “It’s only a matter of time before he loses agency in the situation [and] somebody blurts out in parliament, or on a less responsible network.

“For the good of his colleagues, the BBC, himself and his reputation, it is surely time for that presenter to reveal his identity, and vow to clear his name and defend himself if that’s what he can do.”

Publicist and strategist Mark Borkowski also said the presenter could not carry on not identifying himself for much longer.

He told Times Radio: “We’ve got a situation where it’s an ongoing car crash and the BBC is so glacial about how they’re dealing with this, because this is a 21st Century problem."

Welcome back to coverage of the latest events as an unnamed BBC presenter faces allegations of paying a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos.

More young people have come forward to say they had interactions with the male presenter.

A person in their early 20s told the BBC that the presenter had pressured them to meet up, and then sent abusive and threatening messages after being told they might name him.

The Sun published a new story claiming the presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old he had met on a dating site, and sent what they described as "quite pressurising" messages. The Sun is also alleging the presenter approached a 17-year-old online "out of the blue". It has published what it says is a chat between the pair - where the presenter sends love heart emojis. The BBC has not been able to check these latest allegations independently.

The BBC, which has suspended the presenter, says it has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations after a virtual meeting between corporate executives and detectives. The Met Police says it is reviewing the claims "to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed".

BBC Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine has called for the presenter to identify himself.

Vine - who is unconnected to the allegations - said new claims about the presenter would "result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues".

BBC Director-General Tim Davie has promised an internal review, saying he wants to examine whether the BBC raises "red flags quick enough" about complaints of this nature.

We will be bringing you all the latest on this story over the course of the day - so stay with us.

We're now pausing our live coverage. Thanks for joining us.

The page was edited by Nathan Williams and Alex Therrien.

You can see a timeline of events here. Our culture editor Katie Razzall looks here at the questions remaining for the BBC - and the Sun.

We're soon going to be bringing our live coverage to a pause for the day. Before we do, here's a recap of what happened today:

• A police force has confirmed it was contacted in April about the unnamed presenter by the parents of the young person at the centre of allegations reported in the Sun. The force says "no criminality was identified" at the time but that further enquiries are now ongoing
• Meanwhile, a second young person has made allegations to the BBC about the unnamed presenter. The individual, who is in their early 20s, said the presenter put them under pressure to meet up. When the young person hinted online they might name the presenter, they were sent abusive, expletive-filled messages
• And separately, the Sun has alleged that the unnamed presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old he had met on a dating site
• Earlier, the BBC set out a timeline detailing when the allegations were made to the broadcaster.
• In it, the corporation said senior managers only put the claims to the presenter last Thursday - seven weeks after the initial complaint

• In an interview with the BBC, director general Tim Davie defended the BBC's response, insisting the right process had to be followed before the presenter was approached by a senior manager
• He also said he had asked a senior BBC figure to look into whether the corporation's processes for raising "red flags" are fit for purpose in light of the recent revelations

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent

The Sun is alleging the unnamed BBC presenter broke Covid lockdown rules to meet a young person he had met on a dating site.

The newspaper says it has seen messages which suggest that as well as visiting the 23-year-old's home, he also sent money and asked for a picture. He was sent a semi-naked photograph. The Sun says the young person told the paper that the presenter travelled to another county to meet them at their flat in February 2021.

The source is quoted as saying: "He was always asking to meet and I found it quite pressurising. There were restrictions and they kept getting stricter but he constantly asked." The newspaper alleges the travel to another county took place on 18 February 2021 - and this was during the third national lockdown.

The BBC has verified that this day was indeed part of the lockdown. On 6 January 2021, ministers signed an order to move England from a complicated series of regional tiered restrictions to a full national lockdown.

The lockdown only began to ease after another change in the law on 8 March, allowing people to leave their home for recreation or to be part of a support bubble.

Key questions remain for corporation and the Sunpublished at 22:14 British Summer Time 11 July 2023

22:14 BST 11 July 2023

Katie Razzall
Culture editor

After a day in which the BBC produced a fuller timeline of its actions through this story, where are we now?

For the BBC, key questions remain, primarily around what it did after receiving the complaint in May.

It's difficult to assess the actions of the Corporate Investigations Team without knowing exactly the detail of the complaint. We still don't have that.

But on the face of it, one email attempt that the complainant didn't respond to and one phone call that didn't connect don't, on the surface of it, look like huge efforts being made to check out the allegations.

Over nearly seven weeks.

That might have been understandable if the complaint had been about a presenter getting a fact wrong in a broadcast. But we know that it was deemed serious by the BBC, though not involving criminality. A serious complaint about a high-profile presenter, reportedly involving huge sums of money to a younger person, surely warranted more dedicated investigation.

But the Sun also has questions to answer, particularly after the legal letter sent to the BBC on behalf of the young person on Monday.

Read more.

After the Sun's allegations first emerged on Friday and speculation grew about who the unnamed presenter was, several BBC personalities took to social media to say it was not them - including Jeremy Vine.

Earlier this afternoon, Vine tweeted that he was "starting to think the BBC Presenter involved in the scandal should now come forward publicly".

"These new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his. And the BBC, which I’m sure he loves, is on its knees with this. But it is his decision and his alone."

Earlier today, the Sun responded to the BBC's timeline of events. The newspaper declined an interview and did not answer several specific questions from the BBC.

The paper said "this has always been about a story about concerned parents trying to stop payments to their vulnerable child which was funding a life-risking drug habit".

It then reiterated an earlier statement: “We have reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour 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."