[ad_1]
Vanessa Feltz has weighed in over BBC director-general Tim Davie’s claims he has had no contact with the presenter accused of paying a teenager for explicit pictures.
The public broadcaster’s boss appeared at a pre-planned media briefing on Tuesday, which was dominated by questions about the presenter, who has been suspended, and the firm’s handling of the allegations.
Davie, 56, revealed at the meeting he had not ‘personally’ spoken to the accused presenter since the allegations were made public and instead a ‘senior manager’ handled the conversation.
On Wednesday’s This Morning, hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond were joined by Vanessa, 61, and Tom Swarbrick during which they discussed the briefing, as well as the ongoing scandal.
Follow the latest news on the BBC presenter scandal on Metro.co.uk’s live blog.
‘Whoever this is,’ Dermot, 50, began. ‘The fact that the director-general still hasn’t spoken to them, I find that….’
‘Astounding,’ Vanessa offered.
She later continued: ‘I really am astounded that the director-general didn’t simply make a call to the person concerned and say, “Please come to my office. Let’s talk about what you have or haven’t done.”
‘You would have thought that would be call number one on day number one, wouldn’t you?’
The young person at the centre of the controversy, who the presenter is accused of paying £35,000 for sexual pictures, said via lawyers that nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened with the BBC star.
However, their mother, who first made the accusations in The Sun last week, has stood by the claims, while a spokesperson for the publication said it is ‘now for the BBC to properly investigate.’
More bombshell claims have been leveled at the unnamed presenter, with a second young person claiming he sent them ‘threatening’ messages, white a third alleged he broke lockdown rules to meet them.
The BBC had launched an investigation into the allegations before it was put on ‘pause’ by Met Police to enable detectives to ‘scope future work.’
A spokesperson for the force said it continues to make an ‘assessment to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed’ and ‘there remains no police investigation at this time.’
Pressure has been mounting from several broadcasters, including from Jeremy Vine and Piers Morgan, for the presenter to be identified.
This Morning airs from 10am weekdays on ITV.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Dermot O’Leary issues grim warning over BBC presenter scandal
MORE : Piers Morgan launches scathing attack over BBC presenter row: ‘David Brent psycho-babble’
[ad_2]