A senior BBC boss could be in hot water after failing to spot a potential legal breach in the broadcaster's documentary about the war in the Middle East.

       The BBC sparked outrage last month when it aired the programme 'Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone', featuring the son of a Hamas minister as its narrator.

       14-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the son of Hamas's deputy agricultural minister, was given "a limited sum of money for the narration" by the production company Hoyo Films, the broadcaster admitted.

       Al-Yazouri's family links only emerged after the programme aired on BBC 2 on February 17, causing the BBC to pull it from iPlayer on February 21 and issue an apology for "serious flaws" in its making.

       Following "a number of reports", the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command confirmed it was investigating whether there was a legal case to be made.

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       Deborah Turness, chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs, could come under fire from authorities for not joining the dots during a screening that she attended three weeks before the documentary aired.

       A source told The Telegraph that Ms Turness, who earns around ￡410,000 a year and launched the fact-checking service BBC Verify, saw no reason for concern ahead of the programme's release last month.

       The senior figure assumed that the programme "was fully compliant with BBC guidelines when she watched it at a preview screening," the source said.

       The BBC has insisted that it was told by producers that no money from the film, which focuses on the lives of children in war torn Gaza, would go to the terror group. They were reportedly later told by Hoyo that the 14-year-old narrator's mother had been paid "a limited sum of money" for his contribution.

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       Last week, protestors gathered outside Broadcasting House in London, accusing the BBC of broadcasting Hamas propaganda.

       But the corporation has also faced backlash for pulling 'Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone' from its streaming service. High-profile figures including Gary Lineker and Miriam Margoyles were among the voices condemning its removal as "politically motivated censorship" in an open letter to director general Tim Davie.

       Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy met BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah on Friday after pledging that "no stone will be left unturned" during a review into the film.

       A BBC spokesperson admitted that the incident had “damaged … the trust that audiences have in our journalism”.

       “While the intent of the documentary was aligned with our purpose – to tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places – the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations,” they added.

       “Although the programme was made by an independent production company, who were commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, the BBC has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast.”