A person in their early 20s has said the unnamed BBC presenter who has been suspended over allegations of payments for sexually explicit photos “broke lockdown rules” to "meet them" during the coronavirus pandemic.

It comes after the Sun first published the allegations on Friday (July 7) after a BBC presenter paid more than £35,000 to a young person in exchange for sexually explicit images over a period of three years.

The latest report appears to be a separate person from the others who have made claims against the presenter.

The 23-year-old told the Sun the presenter travelled from London to a different county to meet them at their flat, when strict coronavirus lockdown rules were in place including a stay-at-home order and mixing only between household bubbles.

The newspaper said it has seen messages which suggest the presenter travelled to see the young person in February 2021, after meeting them on a dating website the previous November.

They told the Sun: “He came round for an hour…. We just chatted. He was obsessed with me making him a cup of tea.”

The person said the presenter also gave them more than £600 in three payments, which the newspaper said messages also suggest.

Ilford Recorder: The mother of the first young person involved in the BBC presenter scandal exclusively spoke to the SunThe mother of the first young person involved in the BBC presenter scandal exclusively spoke to the Sun (Image: Belinda Jiao/PA)

The 23-year-old additionally claimed the presenter asked if “next week was good to meet” on December 18, 2020, when restrictions meant a ban on households mixing indoors.

However, the young person claims he made “excuses not to meet him” until two months later.

The young person told the newspaper: “The BBC were briefing the nation on the rules — when their star who was part of the institution was quite happy to break them.”

The Sun said it had approached the BBC and the presenter for comment and would hand over evidence to the BBC’s investigation team.

BBC told to ‘pause’ investigation following meeting with Met police

The corporation has also been asked to pause its internal investigation into the allegations “while the police scope future work” following a meeting with the Metropolitan Police.

A statement from the broadcaster said: “As a result of this meeting, the BBC has been asked to pause its investigations into the allegations while the police scope future work.”

It added: “The BBC has processes and protocols for receiving information and managing complaints when they are first made. We always take these matters extremely seriously and seek to manage them with the appropriate duty of care.

“The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is that they are handled with the utmost diligence and care.

“There will, of course, be lessons to be learned following this exercise.”