Large Kids Company march to Downing Street set for today

“I think this amount of rumour and allegation and counter-allegation… is disgraceful”, the BBC reports.

He added: “In the office there was always Camilla’s [Batmanghelidjh – founder and CEO of Kid’s Company] entourage of favoured kids just allowed to roam free in that office”. The claims were cited by the charity for the loss of a donation that could have helped secure its future.

Batmanghelidjh said police had only recently brought the allegations to the charity’s attention and that it would have “absolutely dealt with it very robustly” if they had emerged earlier.

When asked if he used his position as BBC creative director to interfere with Newsnight investigations into the charity, he said: “I am not remotely considering my position at the BBC, I don’t think I have in any way abused my positon, I have not appeared on any BBC programmes, I am appearing on Channel 4 now”.

Kids Company’s demise looked inevitable as soon as the government announced it would stop its £5m annual grant at the end of the current financial year.

A former employee has claimed teenage girls were groomed for sex by older male clients they met at the charity’s centres, which a girl who once used the organisation said “spending money” given to youngsters was spent on drugs.

Once feted by celebrities such as rock group Coldplay, who donated £8m, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, entrepreneur Richard Branson, the charity this week closed its doors amid accusations that its trustees failed to heed warnings about the puacity of its finances.

Batmanghelidjh told BBC Radio 4 that she was “gobsmacked” by the way the way its arrangements with the government had been depicted.

Ms Batmanghelidjh has said she could prove to the Charity Commission that no funds had been paid by Kids Company to the school to cover academic fees because the school covered the costs via a bursary.

The former intern, who spent several months working at the charity’s headquarters claimed Ms Batmanghelidjh had five personal assistants and turned her office into an “Aladdin’s den”.

Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh has defended her role amid allegations of sexual abuse, violence and drug taking involving young people in its care.

“I would like to thank everyone involved, particularly those who have been through a very hard few days and are still gladly volunteering their time to help”. “We would have totally reported something like that”, Batmanghelidjh said.

“The minute the Government money hit our account, suddenly out of the blue came these allegations of sexual abuse about which we knew nothing and within an hour or so it was all over the news and we still didn’t know what these allegations were at that point”. The perpetrator is now serving a prison sentence for murder. That said, she did stipulate that this wasn’t a problem with the Government, but Britain as a whole: ‘We’ve become a nation that demonises children and perceives them to be the adversaries, negatively impacting our quality of life. Much of our job is getting them off drugs.

She also denied allegations that skunk – the strong form of marijuana – was openly smoked by staff and clients at the Urban Academy.

The Government was forced to hold crisis talks to draw up emergency plans to provide support for children following the sudden closure of the charity, which operated in London, Bristol and Liverpool.

In a statement it said: “Kids Company has sustained its services for 19 years growing from one centre under railway arches to a service which reached 36,000 children, young people and families”.

“Local authorities will also be reviewing the most high-risk cases on an individual basis to determine what support is required”.