The public opinion in the UK remains enthralled by the current sex scandal plaguing the British Broadcast Company (BBC) – but the reaction of the authorities is turning out to be puzzling and disappointing, so far.

The BBC confirmed that its unnamed presenter, who allegedly paid a teenager £35,000 over a three-year period – starting when they were 17, up to the age of 20 – has indeed been suspended.

The mother of the teenager meanwhile revealed that the mystery BBC star is pressuring the family into backing down from the allegations.

“The BBC presenter suspended for allegedly paying a teenager for explicit images is said to have made panicked phone calls to the young person last week as The Sun reported on the claims.

The British tabloid reported on Monday that the star, who is not being named by UK media for legal reasons, phoned the teenager to ask: “What have you done?”

The presenter also attempted to stop the teenager’s mother, who appears to be the source of The Sun‘s reporting, to halt the investigation by the BBC.”

After complaining to the BBC about the presenter in May, to no avail, the mother told the story of her child to The Sun in a series of articles over the weekend.

Under British law, it is illegal ‘to possess or commission images of anyone aged under 18’.

“The BBC said: ‘The BBC takes any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations’.”

With the seriousness of the allegations, you would expect some vigorous police activity but, instead, they appear to be just ‘assessing’ the situation.

LBC reported:

“The Metropolitan Police has said there is no investigation under way into allegations that an unnamed BBC presenter paid a teenager for sexual pictures.

[…] A spokesperson for the Met Police said: ‘Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command met with representatives from the BBC on the morning of Monday, 10 July.

They are assessing the information discussed at the meeting and further enquiries are taking place to establish whether there is evidence of a criminal offence being committed’.”

While the alleged crime does not seem to merit any immediate action of the police’s part, the same can’t be said about the reaction against social media users mistakenly speculating about the identity of the presenter, potentially damaging some BBC stars’ reputations.

Daily Mail reported:

“Scotland Yard today confirmed that it will investigate ‘malicious communications’ on social media falsely accusing BBC stars of being the household name who allegedly gave a teenager £35,000 for explicit pictures.”

BBC presenter Nicky Campbell spoke out about being the target of trolls who have incorrectly pointed the finger at him.

“Confirming police involvement following Mr Campbell’s complaint, a statement from the Metropolitan Police said: ‘On Saturday July 8, police received a report of malicious communication in relation to a post on social media. An investigation is under way and inquiries are ongoing. There have been no arrests’.”