Jeremy Vine gets apology and £1k from man who wrongly tweeted he was presenter in BBC photo scandal

Jeremy Vine has had an apology and a £1,000 payment from a Twitter user who falsely identified him as the BBC presenter at the centre of the Huw Edwards explicit photo scandal.

Vine was one of several BBC presenters, including Gary Lineker, Rylan Clark and Nicky Campbell, who were forced to publicly deny claims on social media that they were the unnamed TV star facing allegations.

On Sunday, Vine said he received an apology from a Twitter user who had “libelled” him by wrongly claiming he was the person concerned.

Speaking of the Twitter user, 58-year-old Vine said: “He has now acknowledged that he was wrong, and has apologised.

“At my request, he has also agreed to pay £1,000 to @mndassoc rather than paying damages.”

Before Edwards was named by his wife as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images, Vine appealed on Twitter for the presenter to “come forward”.

He later said on his Channel 5 show: “It’s his decision, but he needs to come forward now, I think.”

Vine, who also hosts an afternoon programme on BBC Radio 2, added: “I had a situation: I was going to see Bruce Springsteen at the weekend and my wife said ‘Are you going to be safe there?’

“That’s how serious this thing is, and she gave me a baseball cap and said ‘You’d better wear this’.”

Similarly, BBC broadcaster Campbell spoke about his “distressing weekend” after he was also falsely named and forced to clear his name after allegations he was the presenter at the centre of the BBC furore.

The 62-year-old said he had contacted police about being falsely mentioned online in connection with the story and was having conversations with his lawyers in terms of defamation.

The BBC said it is continuing its “fact-finding investigations” into allegations against veteran broadcaster Edwards following the naming of the presenter by his wife on Wednesday night.

After days of speculation, his wife Vicky Flind issued a statement to say the father-of-five is “suffering from serious mental health issues” and is receiving in-patient hospital care.

The Metropolitan Police said no criminal offence has been committed by Edwards and no further police action will be taken “at this time”, allowing an internal BBC investigation to resume.

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