BBC employees reveal Huw Edwards paedophile scandal has felt ‘never-ending’
BBC staff have revealed the Huw Edwards paedophile scandal has felt ‘unending’ on the eve of the disgraced presenter’s sentencing.
Edwards, 63, admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another paedophile on WhatsApp.
The images included seven category A images, the most serious classification, with two involving a child aged around seven to nine.
The ex-BBC presenter is set to be sentenced on Monday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Presenters at the corporation have reported ‘feeling sick’ by the ordeal, with one telling the BBC: ‘For staff, particularly those who worked alongside him, it’s been a difficult year.
‘There have been so many twists and turns, it has felt like a blow every time another horror has been unveiled. It has felt unending.’
Huw Edwards, 63, (pictured) admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another paedophile on WhatsApp
Edwrads pictured with his wife Vicky Flind in December 2018
BBC chair Samir Shah told the House of Lords’ communications and digital committee that he, among other colleagues, ‘feel angry and betrayed’.
When sending an email to staff after Edwards had been charged and pleaded guilty, he branded the ex-presenter ‘the villain of this piece’.
Edwards announced his resignation from the BBC in April, citing medical advice, having already been suspended the previous July over separate allegations he had paid a young person for explicit pictures.
Edwards was absent from screens from when the story first broke in July 2023 until his exit in April 2024.
But he remained on the payroll while suspended, which is normal BBC policy, and was suffering from serious mental health issues and received in-patient hospital care.
The BBC confirmed at the time of his departure that he had not received a pay-off and was leaving ‘on the basis of medical advice from his doctors’.
Police officers clear the way as former BBC news presenter Huw Edwards arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on July 31
In court, Edwards admitted to having seven category ‘A’ images of the very worst kind on his phone after being sent them on WhatsApp by a paedophile.
The sick child porn images showed youngsters aged between seven and 14, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
It was revealed that Edwards had been arrested on November 8 last year and charged on June 26, having kept details of the investigation into him ‘secret’ from his friends at the BBC.
The former broadcaster will be sentenced at the same court tomorrow, where he could face a prison sentence.
