Former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children.
The 63-year-old said he was “deeply sorry” for the “abhorrent” images before being sentenced on Monday at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London in a case that has shocked the UK
He must also attend a sex offender rehabilitation program, of which there are 25 sessions in total. The suspended sentence means Edwards will only serve his sentence in prison if he offends again in the next two years.
The former TV host was arrested in November and charged in July after another man, a convicted paedophile, sent him 41 indecent images of children on WhatsApp.
The offences are alleged to have occurred between 2020 and 2022. Seven of the photos were Category A images, the most serious classification, two of which showed a child aged between seven and nine, the court heard.
The BBC did not immediately release an official statement on the sentencing.
The presenter, who hosted the BBC's flagship programme News at ten programme and led historic coverage for the corporation, including the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the 2012 London Olympics, arrived at the courthouse with a swarm of photographers. He was suspended from the BBC in July 2023 after allegations in The sun It emerged that he had paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos (police took no action against Edwards in relation to the allegations, saying there was no evidence that a criminal offence had been committed). He officially resigned from the channel in April this year.
But the UK’s leading news organisation has faced questioning over exactly what it knew and when. Edwards was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 (about $627,000-632,000) from April 2023 to April 2024. Last month, he was asked to pay the BBC back about £200,000 ($255,000).
The BBC was told by the Metropolitan Police “in strict confidence” that Edwards was arrested in November. Director-General Tim Davie said: “We knew it was serious, we didn't know the details, other than the category of potential offences.”
He added that BBC officials were unaware of the ages of the children in the images and when asked why Edwards had not been sacked at the time of his arrest, Davie replied: “Because the police came to us and said they have to do their job in complete confidentiality, [and said]”Please maintain confidentiality.”
“We thought about it long and hard. It wasn't an impulsive decision. When you think about it in terms of precedent, people are arrested, and then we had situations where [there are] no charges have been brought and there is nothing to investigate.” Davie said the BBC also had to consider its duty of care towards Edwards.
The British government's culture secretary Lisa Nandy has also stepped in to investigate the BBC's handling of the case. A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) said The Hollywood Reporter in August that Nandy was “shocked” by Edwards' “abhorrent actions”. The DCMS said it was up to the judiciary to decide “an appropriate sentence” for the former news presenter.
Under UK law, images can mean either photos or videos. “Creating” indecent images covers a range of actions under its legal definition. It can, for example, include opening an email attachment with an image; downloading an image from a website onto a screen; storing an image on a computer; accessing a pornographic website where images appear in “pop-up” windows; or receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited and as part of a group; and live streaming images of children.
After the news of Edwards' guilty plea was announced, a Doctor Who The episode featuring the former news presenter has been removed from BBC iPlayer. Fans are also calling out for his scene in the James Bond film Falling Sky to cut.