Jeremy Vine receives settlement after he was falsely named as accused BBC star

Jeremy Vine has agreed a settlement with a Twitter user who falsely identified him as the BBC presenter at the centre of the sexually explicit photos scandal.

Vine said he received an apology from a Twitter user who wrongly claimed he was the TV star in question after the Sun reported a BBC host had paid a young person for sexual images but didn't say who it was.

On Wednesday, it was revealed by his wife, Vicky Flind, that the presenter was the News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards.

He said the user had agreed to make a donation to charity at his request.

“He has now acknowledged that he was wrong and has apologised. At my request, he has also agreed to pay £1,000 to [the Motor Neurone Disease Association] rather than paying damages,” Vine said.

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It comes after Flind released a statement on Wednesday that named Edwards as the person accused by the Sun of giving £35,000 to a crack cocaine user in return for explicit images. These claims were later denied by the young person in question.

She said Edwards was in hospital for mental health reasons.

The police concluded he had no criminal case to answer, but an internal BBC investigation may still find he breached the terms of his contract in ways that were not illegal. The broadcaster said it was continuing its “fact-finding investigations” into allegations about the presenter.

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