Huw Edwards ‘messaged lads within the BBC newsroom for drinks for years’

Huw Edwards messaged ‘lads in the newsroom for drinks’ for years, a BBC insider has claimed. 

The disgraced BBC anchorman, 62, yesterday pleaded guilty to receiving 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine.

A BBC insider claimed that bosses at the corporation may have ‘turned a blind eye’ to the star’s behaviour within the newsroom in order to ‘protect’ him. 

It comes as the BBC admitted it knew Edwards had been arrested on ‘suspicion of serious offences’ last November, but kept paying his £479,000-a-year salary until he resigned in April.

A BBC insider said last night: ‘It was known for a few years he was messaging an assortment of lads in the newsroom for drinks etc, yet the feeling is senior editors might have turned a blind eye. If this was the case, it points to the usual ”protect the star” stuff.’ 

Edwards received seven category ‘A’ images of the very worst kind on his phone after being sent them on WhatsApp by paedophile kAlex Williams, it has emerged. 

He had a total of 41 foul images, showing youngsters between the age of seven and 14, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday. 

Edwards was arrested on November 8 last year, with the BBC being aware of his arrest, it has now been revealed. He was then charged on June 26. He resigned in April on health grounds.

The News at Ten reader, whose glittering four-decade career is now in tatters, is said to have kept his arrest ‘secret’ from his friends, a former colleague told the Mail yesterday. 

Meanwhile, both the Crown Prosecution Service and Scotland Yard faced secrecy allegations over the handling of Edwards’s arrest and charge.

The CPS denied it had purposefully suppressed details of the charge or given Edwards preferential treatment.

‘Our handling of this case followed our normal procedures working in partnership with police colleagues,’ a spokesman said.

In April, the Mail received information that Edwards had been arrested and asked the Metropolitan Police whether there had been an update in any investigation, but was told there had been ‘no updates in relation to this matter’. Edwards had in fact been arrested last November.

Scotland Yard said it was not able to respond to enquiries in relation to a named person before charge.

Yesterday, Edwards appeared in court to admit three charges of ‘making’ indecent photographs. Of the 41 images sent to the presenter by convicted paedophile Alex Williams, seven of them were ‘Category A’, the most serious type.

During the time of the exchanges with Williams, which took place over eight months, Edwards delivered coverage of Prince Philip’s funeral to the nation.

Just this week, the BBC would not reveal if it had been aware of Edwards’ arrest in November. But it tried to defend its actions in a statement last night.

The BBC said: ‘In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation. At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health.’

It continued: ‘Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court. If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him. In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC.’ It added: ‘We want to reiterate our shock at Mr Edwards’s actions and our thoughts remain with all those affected.’