He was the face of the BBC. Huw Edwards was sentenced on Monday to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a treatment requirement for possession of child pornography, the conclusion of an embarrassing case for the British public media group.
The 63-year-old former presenter, who has been inseparable from the most significant events in the United Kingdom since the early 2000s, pleaded guilty in July, thus avoiding a lengthy media trial. He was facing ten years in prison, but the judge followed the prosecution’s submissions, which had highlighted his psychological problems and the “sincere remorse” expressed. “Your reputation is in tatters,” he told the presenter as he announced the sentence.
During the hearing, Huw Edwards’ lawyer Philip Evans said his client acknowledged “the disgusting nature” of the images he had received and was “deeply sorry”.
The case has caused a huge stir in Britain and embarrassed the BBC. “We are appalled by his crimes. He has not only betrayed the BBC, but the public who trusted him,” a BBC spokesperson said in a written statement.
Exchanges on WhatsApp
The case begins in the summer of 2023, when the tabloid The Sun claimed he had paid a teenager in exchange for sexual photos and was suspended. No charges were filed at the time. But new accusations led the courts to indict him in June 2024, two months after his resignation.
This time, the investigation shows that Huw Edwards was in contact on WhatsApp with a man who was sending him child pornography images. The charges against him related to 41 images, some of which showed a child aged between seven and nine, received between December 2020 and August 2021.
The illegal images found were “clearly sent with Mr Edwards’ consent”, according to the prosecution. Huw Edwards’ lawyer insisted that his client had only received the images, not shared them.
BBC embarrassed
Married and father of five, Huw Edwards was born in Wales. He joined the BBC in 1984 as a political reporter. His calm demeanor made him a reliable and reassuring presence for millions of viewers, from the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (2011) to the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II (2022). Huw Edwards was the highest-paid journalist with a salary of more than £500,000.
The affair has dealt a major blow to the BBC. Severely criticised for its handling of the scandal, it carried out an internal investigation which concluded that its procedures for dealing with complaints about the behaviour of its employees were inadequate.
The group remains traumatised by the Jimmy Savile affair, which broke in 2012, a year after the death of the star presenter, who had raped and sexually assaulted minors for decades.