Huw Edwards: From trusted face of BBC news to disgrace of child abuse images

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

With a calm but authoritative voice that informed the nation of some of the biggest world events in recent memory, the BBC’s Huw Edwards was one of the most trusted figures to appear on British television.

Delivering stories from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, across a four-decade career at the corporation he personified a relatable family man.

His reputation is in ruins after he was handed a prison sentence of six months, suspended for two years, following WhatsApp correspondence in which he received child abuse images of the most serious kind.

From a traineeship at the broadcaster in 1984, Edwards rose through its ranks and became BBC Wales’s parliamentary correspondent in just two years. In 1994 he was made presenter of the most-watched news programme in Britain, BBC Six O’Clock News.

His many accolades eventually saw him become a trusted presenter of historical events in the monarchy, culminating in last May’s coronation, as well as key political moments, including the Conservative government’s landslide return to power in 2019.

Edwards, 63, also appeared to use his platform for good and opened up about suffering from depression in 2021, telling Men’s Health that the illness left him dreading “things that you usually enjoy”.

“You come into work, and obviously you do a professional job but you’re kind of pushing your way through it,” he said.

Edwards’ mental health would be referenced in mitigation at his sentencing, with the judge saying that his condition at the time of the offences could have impaired his decision making.

On Monday, Edwards narrowly avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.

Investigators turned their attention to Edwards when they found messages on the phone of Alex Williams, from Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, who went on to be convicted of seven offences.

But that followed a scandal last summer that forced the presenter to resign from the BBC “on medical grounds”.

Last July, The Sun reported that an unidentified, but “well-known” male presenter at the BBC had paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for pornographic images – a sum his parents claimed was used to fund an addiction to crack cocaine.

Nationwide speculation followed, forcing other household names to protest their innocence and demand that the man name himself.

Edwards was unmasked by his wife, Vicky Flind, who said in a statement that he had suffered from long-standing mental health issues and was receiving inpatient treatment after another “serious episode”.

“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters,” she wrote last July. “He has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving inpatient hospital care where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”

Further allegations then emerged from BBC staff who said that the presenter had made them uncomfortable in message exchanges, and another young person claimed that they encountered the star on a dating app and were sent allegedly threatening messages.

But the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police reported at the time that they could find no wrongdoing by Edwards.

The BBC had announced the commencement of an internal investigation following The Sun’s reports but Edwards remained its highest-paid presenter on an annual salary of £479,999 until he resigned in April this year.

Serious questions have since arisen for the BBC about its handling of the case after it emerged that the corporation was aware that its highest-paid presenter had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences in November 2023.

Following the sentencing, the BBC said in a statement: “We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”

The public, who once trusted Edwards to deliver some of the UK’s most important stories, took to social media to express their outrage at both the presenter’s crimes and the leniency of the sentence.

Public figures spoke out, including prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said he was “shocked and appalled” by the case, adding that Edwards’ sentence was “for the court to decide, having looked at all the available evidence”.

Edwards’ suspended sentence means he will be incarcerated for his crimes should he re-offend at any point within the next two years.