Huw Edwards avoids jail for child sexual abuse images on his phone

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring on Monday sentenced Edwards to a six-month prison term suspended for two years.

“It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters,” Goldspring said.

Edwards’ fall from grace over the past year has caused turmoil for the BBC after it was revealed the publicly funded broadcaster paid him about £200,000 ($391,500) for five months of his salary after he had been arrested in November while on leave. The BBC has asked him to pay it back.

Edwards had been one of the BBC’s top earners when he was suspended in July 2023 over separate claims made last year involving a teenager he allegedly paid for sexually explicit photos. Police investigated and decided not to bring charges.

Although Edwards was not publicly named at the time those allegations surfaced, his wife later revealed he was the news presenter investigated and said he was hospitalised for serious mental health issues.

He never returned to the air but the BBC kept him on the payroll until he resigned in April for health reasons.

Edwards began his BBC career in Wales four decades ago. He went on to become lead anchor on the nighttime news for two decades and led the coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 as well as election coverage.

The BBC said it had been shocked to hear the details of the charges against Edwards at the time of his guilty plea.

More than 375 sexual images were sent to him on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021. More than 40 were indecent images of children, including seven classified as “category A” — the most indecent — with children estimated to be between 13 and 15. One child was aged between 7 and 9.

In chats with Alex Williams, a convicted pedophile, Edwards was asked if he wanted sexual images of a person whose “age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16” and Edwards replied “yes xxx” prosecutor Ian Hope said.

“From that chat in December 2020, Alex Williams said that he had ‘a file of vids and pics for you of someone special’,” Hope said.

“Mr Edwards immediately queried who the subject was and was then sent three images of seemingly the same person, from two of which images the subject’s age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16.”

Williams later sent Edwards video in February 2021 that involved two children, one possibly as young as seven and another no older than 13, involving penetration, Hope said.

Edwards did not respond, but when later asked by Williams if the material was too young, he said, “don’t send underage”. He also said he didn’t want him to send anything illegal.

Defence lawyer Philip Evans said Edwards was “truly sorry” for the offences and the damage he had done to his family.

“He apologises sincerely and he makes it clear that he has the utmost regret and he recognises that he has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people,” Evans said.

Evans said Williams had reached out to Edwards on Instagram at a time when he was mentally vulnerable and began sending him images. He said Edwards never received gratification from the images and hadn’t saved them or sent them to anyone.

Hope said Edwards paid Williams “not insignificant sums of money” as gifts that Williams used for support while studying at a university.

At one point, Williams asked for a “Christmas gift after all the hot videos” he had sent. Edwards had said some of the images were “amazing”, Hope said.

Williams, 25, was given a suspended one-year sentence in March for possessing and distributing indecent images as well as possessing prohibited images of children.