Top BBC anchor taken off air amid allegations of paying teenager for sexual photos after mom's complaint

A top BBC anchor has been taken off air amid allegations that he wired more than £35,000 to a teenager in exchange for explicit photos. Without identifying the gender of the victim, The Sun reported Friday that the teenager has been receiving payments since theage of 17. The teenager’s mother first complained to BBC on May 19 and asked the broadcaster to stop the anchor from sending money to her child, who is now 20.

According to the mother, the money paid by the BBC anchor would often go into funding a drug habit of the teenager, who had gone from “a happy-go-lucky youngster to a ghost-like crack addict” in just three years.

Enraged mother takes on the 'famous' BBC anchor

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The Sun quoted the teenager’s mother as saying that the BBC anchor had destroyed her child’s life. “When I see him on telly, I feel sick. Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child,” she was quoted as telling by The Sun.

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She added, “All I want is for this man to stop paying my child for sexual pictures and stop him funding my child’s drug habit.”

She also claims to have seen the bank statement of her child, which reveals numerous transactions from the BBC anchor.

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

BBC reacts

BBC has acknowledged the complaint filed by the enraged mother and said it was taking the allegations “very seriously.”

“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,” a BBC spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“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,” the spokesperson added.

Who is the BBC anchor in question?

The Sun described the BBC anchor as “a familiar face who is known to millions,” but fell short of naming him. Neither BBC confirmed which anchor was being investigated by it after the complaint was received.

The family of the teenager informed that the accused anchor never tried to hide his identity and even sent his pictures while at work.

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