BBC star reaches agreement with Twitter user over false photo claim

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BBC presenter Jeremy Vine has won a libel payout from a Twitter user who had incorrectly identified him as the figure at the centre of the broadcaster’s explicit photo scandal.

Vine, 58, was one of several BBC stars, including former English footballer Gary Lineker, who felt compelled to publicly deny claims circulating on social media.

After days of intense speculation in the media and on social platforms, news anchor Huw Edwards, 61, was finally confirmed as the mystery presenter at the centre of allegations he paid a teen for explicit photos over a number of years.

Before Huw Edwards was named, Jeremy Vine urged the then-mystery BBC presenter accused of paying thousands for explicit photographs of a teenager to come forward. (ITN / Channel 5)

Edwards’ wife Vicky Flind was the person to reveal her husband was the star caught up in the furore, but not before Vine had been misidentified as the BBC presenter online.

Vine had said it was “just terrible” to be wrongly named in connection with the allegations before Edwards was identified.

“On 8 July @AndyPlumb4 libelled me by alleging that I was the BBC presenter at the heart of a story in The Sun that day,” Vine wrote on Twitter yesterday.

“He has now acknowledged that he was wrong, and has apologised.”

Plumb had – “at my request”, Vine said – also agreed to pay £1000 ($1900) to a motor neurone disease charity instead of being forced in court to pay damages.

Plumb describes himself as a “patriot and proud Brit” on his Twitter profile.

In his public apology, he said his “defamatory” statement about the BBC Radio 2 presenter was “entirely baseless”.

Flind’s statement last week identified Edwards as the person accused by UK tabloid The Sun of giving $67,000 to a teenager with drug issues in return for explicit images.

Edwards was in hospital with “serious mental health issues”, Flind said in the statement.

She said her husband would speak about the matter himself when he was back to health.

Edwards is yet to publicly respond to any of the allegations against him but there has been activity on his Twitter account, which has 200,000 followers.

The Guardian reported Edwards’ account “liked” three tweets since the story broke.

One tweet had criticised The Sun‘s reporting and another suggested The Sun could face a major libel bill as a result of the allegations.

Those tweets have since been unliked, according to The Guardian.

Edwards is a beloved news presenter and was handpicked to be the newsreader to officially announce Queen Elizabeth II’s death to the public.

Some friends and colleagues of Edwards have rallied behind him after a poll showed viewers want him back on air.