Katherine Downes (born 11 June 1982) is an English television presenter who works on the

BBC News Channel BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

and BBC Breakfast, specialising in sports coverage.

Biography

She went to the independent St Peter's School, York. She studied journalism at Cardiff University. In 2009, Downes was working at

BBC South East BBC South East is the BBC English region serving Kent, East Sussex, most parts of West Sussex and southern parts of Surrey. The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter (formerly part of the BBC ...

for which she won Best Newcomer at the Royal Television Society Southern Centre Awards in 2010. Downes joined the

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

team in 2012 when it moved to

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. She had previously worked as a reporter and occasional presenter on

BBC South East Today ''BBC South East Today'' is the BBC South East regional television news programme, serving Kent, East Sussex, part of West Sussex and a small part of Surrey. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received ' ...

, as well as reporting on a variety of news stories as a correspondent for BBC Breakfast and the BBC News Channel during 2011. On 1 June 2013, she married Tim Sleap at All Hallows Church in Sutton-on-the-Forest near

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. She had allowed readers of ''Brides'' magazine to choose her wedding dress from a selection of five. In 2022, Downes was part of BBC Sport's presentation and interview team at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

References

1982 births Living people Alumni of Cardiff University BBC newsreaders and journalists British women television journalists English sports broadcasters English sports journalists English television journalists English television presenters English women journalists People educated at St Peter's School, York British radio presenters British women radio presenters {{England-bio-stub