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10th July 2023
08:49pm BST
Allegations made by a mother about a BBC presenter paying thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos from their child have been labelled "rubbish" by the young person's lawyer.
The lawyer for the unidentified young person has told the BBC that ""nothing inappropriate or unlawful", claiming the Sun published the claims despite the person telling the paper there was "no truth" to them.
On Friday, the Sun first reported allegations that a BBC presenter had paid a total of £35,000 over a three year period for explicit pictures of the person, starting when they were 17-years-old.
The claims came from the young person's mother, and the Sun says it has evidence to support her claims.
But they have now been refuted by the lawyer representing the young person in question, BBC News reports.
In a letter sent on Monday to the BBC, the lawyer says the young person sent a message on WhatsApp to the Sun on Friday evening in which they denied the claims.
The person says the statement their mother made to the newspaper was "totally wrong and there was no truth to it".
Despite this, the Sun proceeded to publish what the person's lawyer labelled "their inappropriate article".
"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," the lawyer writes.
"Nobody from the Sun newspaper appears to have made any attempt to contact our client prior to the publication of the allegations on Friday 6 July,” they added.
The lawyer also claimed in the letter that the mother and the young person are estranged.
Responding to this, the Sun said in a 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."
In an update on Monday evening, the mother and step-father to the young person said they "stand by" their allegations.
The identity of the young person and the BBC presenter are both not publicly known.
The BBC said on Sunday that a staff member had been suspended, and that it was carrying out its own enquiries into the allegations.
The broadcaster has also contacted the Metropolitan police over the allegations, with the force saying it is "assessing" the information it has been given.
According to the Sun, the young person’s family complained to the BBC on 19 May and begged them to make the man “stop sending the cash”, before contacting the paper.
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