Ex-BBC presenter Edwards pleads guilty to indecent child images charge

Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, one of the most recognisable faces on UK television, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of making indecent images of children.

The 62-year-old — who resigned from the BBC in April on “medical advice”, six months after he was arrested — faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a minimum of 12 months.

Wearing a dark suit and blue tie, Edwards sat impassively during the 25-minute court hearing as he admitted receiving 41 indecent images of children on WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.

Under English law, electronic communications involving indecent imagery of children — including receiving and downloading pictures and videos — can constitute the offence of making indecent images of children.

The crimes involving Edwards occurred between December 2020 and August 2021.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London heard that the former TV anchor had received 377 sexual images from a man he met online, of which 41 were indecent images of children.

“These images appear to have been received with approval,” prosecutor Ian Hope told the court.

Of the gravest, the estimated age of most of the children was 13 to 15, but one in a “moving film” was aged between seven and nine, he noted.

London’s Metropolitan Police said later Wednesday that the man who shared the indecent images of children with Edwards was 25-year-old convicted paedophile Alex Williams.

The force said a Welsh court sentenced Williams in March to a suspended 12-month jail term after he pleaded guilty to various charges related to indecent imagery of children.

Police said an investigation into Edwards began after a phone seized by officers as part of an unrelated probe revealed the broadcaster’s participation in a WhatsApp conversation.

– BBC ‘shocked’ –

Edwards’s lawyer, Philip Evans, said in court there was “no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has… in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort”.

He noted there were “serious issues in relation to Mr Edwards’s health both mental and physical”.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring released Edwards on conditional bail until his next hearing on September 16, when he could be sentenced.

“I’m asking the probation service to look at this case, with genuinely all options open,” the magistrate said.

Hope had earlier told the court that a suspended sentence might be appropriate if paired with a community order and a sexual offender treatment programme.

Edwards, a leading anchor and the BBC’s presenter on key events such as the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, was suspended in July 2023 when allegations first emerged.

He quit in April after 40 years with the broadcaster.

Edwards himself has not publicly commented on the allegations.

The BBC’s brand has been built on public trust but the broadcaster has been rocked in recent years by scandals which saw some big names revealed as serial sex offenders.

A spokesperson for the broadcaster said it was “shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today”.

“There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.”

The BBC’s statement acknowledged that it first learned of his arrest last November. He was suspended at the time, but only left the broadcaster six months later.

“If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him,” it added.

AFP