BBC bosses left reeling over Huw Edwards charges after only being told ‘hours before they were made public’

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The BBC was only told about former presenter Huw Edwards’s criminal charges just hours before they were made public, according to reports.

Senior management and staff were “left reeling” after the corporation received a call from the Met Police telling it about charges brought against the 62-year-old veteran broadcaster for making indecent images of children.

Edwards was charged with three counts between December 2020 and April 2022 and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

“The BBC was informed by the Met Police when a call came through on Monday. It will be quite a moment when he appears in Westminster magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning,” a source told The Times.

He is accused of having six category A images, 12 category B pictures and 19 category C photographs on WhatsApp, according to the chargesheet.

Police said Edwards was arrested on 8 November last year and charged on 26 June this year following authorisation from the Crown Prosecution Service.

The offences are claimed to be linked to images shared on WhatsApp, police said. If found guilty, he could receive a maximum penalty of six months in prison and an unlimited fine. The BBC declined to comment.

It comes less than a week after it was revealed Edwards was the third highest paid journalist at the corporation and received a £40,000 pay rise last year, despite being suspended for most of that time.

Edwards earned between £475,000-£479,999, up from £435,000-£439,999 in the previous year, the corporation’s annual report said.

The BBC’s director general Tim Davie said the pay rise was due to the BBC trying to act “proportionally”.

“I think that’s what we did and it ended up in the conclusion, we all know, but I think we wouldn’t have wasted money if we weren’t doing the right thing,” he said.

During his career, Edwards fronted BBC’s News At Ten for 20 years and anchored coverage of major national events including announcing Queen Elizabeth II’s death on the BBC and presenting coverage of her funeral.

He presented the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and Platinum Jubilee in 2022, as well as the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (now the Prince and Princess of Wales) in 2011.

He also presented the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018, and the funeral of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 2021.