The BBC presenter suspended over sex picture claims started a chat with a teen follower from his Instagram account – using love hearts and kisses in his messages.

In an exclusive interview they said, “Looking back now it does seem creepy because he was messaging me when I was still at school. In light of everything now, I feel shocked because as a broadcaster it is a name everyone would trust. I had no reason to think it was anything beyond that at that time.”

The Sun is handing its full dossier to BBC investigators. It includes signed sworn statements from the individual. The first message sent to the teenager by the household name came in October 2018. He messaged them with a love heart emoji without there ever being prior contact between them.

The teen had followed the presenter on Instagram months prior to the contact and said they were stunned to receive a message from such a high-profile BBC employee. Speaking from their home, they added: “I was surprised he had messaged me out of the blue but was excited as I knew who he was. He sent a love heart emoji to me and I was taken aback. Looking back now at my reply I can tell I did not think anything of it because of my age.”

The teen said further, “I was just thinking of it ­innocently because I had a keen interest in their line of work. I replied to the love-heart emoji he sent and asked how it was going at the BBC. He replied saying it was good and he used a kiss [x] at the end of his message. I did think it was a little strange that he used a kiss at the end but, ultimately, I was not reading into these messages in that way and so did not think more about it at the time.”

Following the teenager’s reply, the presenter went back with another message and continued the conversation. The youngster, who is now 22 and holds down a successful job, added: “After my reply, he then asked me if I was OK. After (that)he sent it he sent me another love heart emoji. I asked why he was asking after me and he said he was just being polite and put another kiss at the end.”

The conversation continued intermittently, with the young person messaging the telly veteran sporadically after their first contact. They said: “Knowing what I know now, I feel I was a bit naïve. I was a young person who loved what this presenter did and naturally I was excited he had messaged me.”

At one stage, the youngster asked for advice about taking part in a BBC scheme for 11 to 16-year-olds.

Speaking days after The Sun’s shock first report was published, they said: “I was a year older than the age range for the project but it was still something I was invited to be a part of. I told him I was in my final year at school and told him I had the opportunity to take part in a BBC school scheme where you get to make a news programme and he told me to go for it. When he replied to me he had stopped using heart emojis and kisses at the end of his messages. In light of what I know now, it feels as though when he realised I was not flirtatious back, he changed in the way he would reply.”

Yesterday, it came to light another young person had been contacted by the star – with new allegations about “abusive” messages after they started speaking on a dating app. When told about the fresh claims by The Sun, the person admitted they were not surprised they were not the only person to be contacted.

They said, “I am a well-rounded person with a good support network. I previously joked about this with my friends and looked at it as a one-off. Seeing what has happened to this person, I just hope that if there are other people out there who have had an experience like this individual that they have the support to speak out too. I feel saddened that individuals of a similar age to myself have experienced something like this and I just hope they know they can be heard.”

The presenter declined to comment.

• The Sun report