Huw Edwards was only exposed as a paedophile after Welsh detectives investigating another sex offender uncovered the BBC star’s number in a depraved WhatsApp chat, MailOnline can reveal.
Edwards, 62, is facing 10 years in jail after today pleading guilty to making 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine.
Now it has emerged the disgraced news reader – who helmed royal and political events at the BBC before resigning in April – was only exposed by chance by cops in Wales.
Detectives stumbled onto the household-named star while investigating another paedophile, 25-year-old Alex Williams from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
When officers from South Wales Police seized Williams’ phone, they uncovered a vile WhatsApp chat full of child pornography – as well as father-of-five Edwards’ number.
The Metropolitan Police is facing a backlash over the alleged ‘secrecy’ surrounding the child porn investigation into ex-BBC News star Huw Edwards
News of the broadcaster’s offences came to light in a bombshell statement by the Met on Monday – more than a month after he was charged (Edwards is seen leaving court today)
Welsh police uncovered the broadcaster crimes during a separate probe into a sex offender in Wales. Edwards is pictured in court today
The disgraced broadcaster was arrested on November 8, 2023 before being charged on June 26 with three counts of making indecent images.
Seven of the pictures were category ‘A’ images of the very worst kind. This included two moving images of a young boy, possibly aged between seven and nine years old.
He also had photos of other children aged between 13 and 15 stored on his phone that were classed as Category A.
Williams, who was in a chat with Edwards, was sentenced to a total of 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years following a March 15 hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
Edwards, whose marriage and journalist career have now been destroyed, will find out his fate during a sentencing hearing in September.
News of the disgraced broadcaster’s offences came to light in a bombshell statement by the Met on Monday.
Police today admitted the details of his charge were only revealed this week after a journalist spotted Edwards’ name listed in a court document. Prior to that, the Met had planned to release a statement on Tuesday.
But legal experts and former detectives have argued the Met should have released news of the father-of-five’s charges as soon as he was charged, with the London force now being accused of ‘secrecy’ surrounding the probe.
The scandal came little more than a year after Edwards paid a 17-year-old for sexually explicit images – with Metropolitan Police detectives at the time insisting there was ‘no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed’.