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Former BBC news presenter Huw Edwards has been sentenced to six months in prison – suspended for two years – and placed on a sex offenders treatment programme for accessing indecent images and videos of children by a London court.
The sentence means the veteran presenter will not face jail time unless he commits another crime in the next two years.
Sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, Chief Judge Paul Goldspring said Edwards’ “long-standing reputation has been destroyed”.
EdwardsThe 63-year-old was the highest-paid presenter at Britain’s national broadcaster when he resigned in April. In court, he looked straight ahead with his chin resting on his hands as the verdict was read.
In July, he pleaded guilty charged with three counts of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021, admitting receiving 41 illicit images and videos from a man on the messaging platform WhatsApp.
Seven of the images and videos are considered Category A, the most serious category. Some are believed to be of a child between 13 and 15 years old, while others may be of a child as young as seven.
The prosecution told the court that Edwards paid a total of around £1,000 to £1,500 to Alex Williams, who sent him the images, sometimes after receiving the content. However, the judge said he accepted the defence’s explanation that the payments were more of a “thank you” than a payment to purchase the images.
Monday’s verdict brings closure to the downfall of Edwards, the BBC’s top presenter Ten o’clock news programme and coverage of important state and international events, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles.
The Welsh were in center of media frenzy last summer after it emerged that a senior BBC presenter had relationships with a series of young people.
His wife, Vicky Flind, who confirmed his identity as the man at the centre of the allegations after days of speculation, said Edwards was suffering from serious mental health issues. Police concluded that Edwards had not broken any laws.
In April, Edwards resigned from the BBCwhere he earned around £475,000 a year, after being arrested on suspicion of serious crime in November last year. He was charged in June this year with making indecent images of children.
Last month, the company said it would seek to recover hundreds of thousands of pounds The company said it had paid the veteran presenter between his arrest and his resignation. Edwards had “clearly undermined trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute”.
“These are extremely serious offences,” said Goldspring, who told Edwards he was “being forced to face his wrongdoing in a very public way.”
“[However]”You do not pose a risk or danger to the public at large and particularly to children,” Goldspring added in explaining why Edwards was not facing immediate jail time.
In a mitigation application on Monday, the court was told that Edwards had asked the man he was communicating with via WhatsApp not to send him illegal content featuring minors.
While the charges were described as “producing” indecent images, Edwards’ lawyer, Philip Evans KC, reiterated to the court that this was a legal term and there was no suggestion that Edwards had created any content.
Evans said expert reports compiled for Edwards’ sentencing showed there was a “storm of misfortune” going on in his life at the time of the offence and he was suffering from both physical and mental health problems.
Edwards has always been a man of good character and “he lost that character very publicly,” Evans said.
