The BBC has released another statement following allegations an unnamed member of staff at the corporation paid a teenager for sexually explicit images.

It says that the Metropolitan Police has asked that the corporation pause its investigations while detectives look into the issue further.

Key dates have also been released by the BBC which explains the events after the initial complaint was made.

BBC releases new statement and lists key dates

In the statement, the BBC 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.”

The corporation says it has processes and protocols to follow as complaints are received with matters being taken “extremely seriously”.

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.”

Davie said he has asked Leigh Tavaziva, the BBC’s Group chief operating officer, to assess whether its protocols and procedures are appropriate in light of this case, and report to the BBC Board on this in due course.

Key dates set out by the BBC

The BBC has set out a timeline of events, as follows.

The complainant, a family member, attended a BBC building in order to make a complaint about a BBC presenter’s behaviour on May 18.

A day later, on May 19, the complainant contacted BBC Audience Services and the details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team.

The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services.

The assessment made was that on the basis of the information provided it did not include an allegation of criminality but nonetheless merited further investigation.

Romford Recorder: The BBC has released a statment and key dates (Pictured: BBC director-general Tim Davie)The BBC has released a statment and key dates (Pictured: BBC director-general Tim Davie) (Image: Jacob King/PA)

The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team emailed the complainant stating how seriously the BBC takes the issue and seeking additional information to verify the claims being made but there was no response to this contact.

Checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant.

The BBC said this is a standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are.

Then on June 6, having received no response to the email referenced above, a phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team but the call failed to connect.

Following these attempts to make contact with the complainant, the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks.

No additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after June 6, however, the case remained open throughout.

On July 6, the Sun newspaper informed the BBC via the Corporate Press Office of the allegations concerning a presenter working for the BBC.

The BBC said it became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family that contacted the BBC on May 18 and 19.

This was the first time that the director-general or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.

The claims made by The Sun contained new allegations that were different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations.

The BBC initiated an incident management group to lead the response to this case, involving senior BBC executives, including the director-general.

The acting chairman was updated and the board was regularly updated in the coming days.

A senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned to make him aware of the claims being outlined by The Sun.

It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.

Following The Sun’s contact, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations team contacted the complainant again, on July 7, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators.

The BBC’s Serious Case Management Framework (SCMF) was initiated and the investigation being undertaken by the Corporate Investigations Team was brought into the SCMF which is chaired by a human resources director.

The BBC also contacted the police.

The complainant sent the BBC some materials related to the complaint on July 8.

The complainant continued to send the BBC materials to do with the complaint on July 9 and the BBC issued an update to staff and the media with the broadcaster also confirming that it had suspended the presenter.

On July 10, the BBC met with the police to report the matter and discuss how to progress the investigation.