The BBC has issued a statement after Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.
The former BBC News anchor arrived at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 31 July.
Where he faced charges of seven Category A, the worst category, 12 Category B, and 22 Category C indecent images of children. He now faces a maximum of ten years in prison.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “The BBC is 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 police have confirmed that the charges are not connected to the original complaint raised with the BBC in the summer of 2023.
Nevertheless in the interests of transparency we think it important to set out some points about events of the last year.
“In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation. At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health
“Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court. 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. In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC. During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions. We want to reiterate our shock at Mr Edwards’ actions and our thoughts remain with all those affected.”
The court heard that he was involved in an online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children. The bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period.
On February 2, 2021, the male asked whether what he was sending was too young, in response to which Mr Edwards told him not to send any underage images, the court heard. The indecent images that were sent included seven Category A, the worst, 12 Category B, and 22 Category C.
After the news emerged, BBC stars – including Victoria Derbyshire and Jeremy Vine – reacted on social media. Presenter Jeremy retweeted ITV’s Richard Morgan’s post which read: “Huw Edwards will return to court on September 16th. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring says “all options are open” in terms of sentencing.
The court heard that a 12-month sentence is “the starting point” for these offences, but that there are several mitigating factors…” He also re-posted the BBC article on the vile news. Victoria shared a photo of Edwards walking into court and tweeted: “Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children,” before retweeting BBC News’ article.
Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine, the court was told. The final indecent image was sent in August 2021, a category A film featuring a young boy. The man told Edwards that the boy was quite young-looking, and that he had more images which were illegal.
Edwards told him not to send any illegal images, the court was told. No more were sent, and the pair continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022. Edwards spoke to confirm his name, date of birth, address and his guilty pleas at the start of the hearing. After entering his guilty pleas, Edwards sat staring into the distance, with his head tilted slightly upwards and adjusted his tie as Ian Hope, prosecuting, laid out the case against him.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
