How does the BBC get out of the presenter mess?

[mids2019]

Seriously how does the BBC now go forward and what can be the conclusion to this story? The story could run for some time with on going speculation about the presenter and eventually in my opinion a name will drop.

Can there therefore be any sort of fair investigation because I think there may be too much aspirational damage now for a career to be as ed. It seems the knives the BBC sit on this the more scrutiny there is and they desperately need a conclusion?

Under threats of blackmail.

Well that news seals his fate really.

You’re assuming these allegations are true, despite the first alleged victim saying they’re not. The second complainant made contact via a dating website. So I think sex workers is a bit of a leap.

Thanks. Never used one. Don't plan to!

It’s now moved on from The Sun too

Even if not illegal, it's sleazy and immoral. This is the end of his career. What an idiot.

Depends on the content of the messages. Apparently the messages were sent after the complainant said they were going to go public. If they have threatened harm then that is illegal.

I think an MP is going to announce the name in the Houses of Common under Parliamentary Privileges. Maybe even a newspaper has set them up to do so in order to run some more torrid headlines / images of ass cheeks.

In parallel with the PS victim, the young person is not courting the media which I find interesting - perhaps due to their mental state/addition issues. Who knows.

I think the presenter will be named now following this escalation, especially as BBC have confirmed the messages were from his mobile.

Maybe MPs should stick to running the country.

someone else has come forward now. Nothing to do with the original teenager or their family so looking even more likely to be true.

Sounds like the 2nd one only received threatening and abusive messages after almost outing him on social media, maybe not wise but hardly unexpected!

@Blossomtoes you're correct, if it turns out to be unfounded then I will have egg on my face. But I don't consider a potential victim of exploitation sexually who themselves has admitted to a crime if they say it is true - it's still illegal at 17 to distribute and make sexual images of yourself- saying nothing happened to hold much weight saying it's rubbish.

As a young adult I didn't view things I experienced as exploitation- as an older adult with time to reflect I know I wasn't as comfortable as I claimed I was then and it was damaging. I might have horrible feelings about certain people in hindsight but when it was happening I would've jumped to their defence too and claimed everything was fine and hey look elsewhere nothing to see here

Maybe it's a Labour MP who is sick of this story distracting from the BJ WhatsApp and GO email stories 😁

What a dumb shit.

Imagine working for a news agency and thinking that the news agency wouldn't think to look for y'know 'evidence'.

So alleged creepy perv has at least demonstrated that they are indeed a creepy perv - the only thing left to prove here is whether he was a legal creepy perv or an illegal creepy perv.

Retirement beckons.

I hope his wife can also afford one of those expensive lawyers.

I guess blackmail is the risk you take if you take part in this sort of activity.

I’m sure there will be other stuff like this.

It seems likely he has lived his life in the closet, so any contact with men will have been fraught with risk of exposure.

A horrible way to live life and anyone who has a story about him, even if it is an argument after he was threatened with being outed, will want to pile in.

His private life will be exposed for everyone to judge, and that is going to happen regardless of whether it was all between consenting adults.

Its not like every fucker doesn't already know at this point.

Thank for the assumption that I’m a young adult - I’m 70 next month. And I haven’t leapt to anyone’s defence, just pointed out that you’re making stuff up.

Oh that’s all right then. Blackmail’s OK now. 🙄

It's quite possible he has done nothing illegal but his career is almost certainly finished and his reputation will be in tatters. Sadly we are all human and people do foolish things. I wish everybody involved in this sorry saga well and hope they can find a way forward.

@kirinm where did you read about blackmail?

The BBC report says the second young man told the presenter they were going to name him. Not that they asked for money not to name him. Big difference.

Responding to blackmail with expletive filled threats is from his known phone number, at the very least, unwise. He would have been better to use his £415k salary to instruct his very high powered and expensive lawyers.

The young person threatened to out him. That’s blackmail.

Nothing illegal but the BBC has verified that abusive messages were sent from his phone number to a young person.

Why did he think that was a good idea? Especially given the mess.

He's gone. BBC can gross misconduct him on that alone thus making him 'not their problem' anymore.