Huw Edwards: Former BBC star walks free despite horrifying evidence of paying for child abuse material

Huw Edwards told a paedophile that a folder of sick child abuse images was ‘amazing’.

The disgusting comment emerged at the former BBC star’s sentencing yesterday as his extraordinary downfall was completed.

Edwards also asked for ‘more’ after receiving a video of a child aged between seven and nine engaged in a sex act, the court was told.

But the former face of the BBC – who in September 2022 announced Queen Elizabeth’s death to the nation – avoided jail, despite admitting three counts of making indecent images of children.

He was instead given a six month suspended jail sentence.

It means Edwards has not spent any time in a prison cell, given that he was bailed after his guilty pleas in July.

As the hearing laid bare the full extent of his offending, it also emerged Edwards, 63, gave up to £1,500 (AUD$2934) to the paedophile who sent him dozens of indecent images.

The BBC reacted with a statement which said Edwards had betrayed not just the corporation but millions of viewers who had put their trust in him.

And as Edwards sat in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, his hands clasped as if in prayer, the chief magistrate told him: “It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters.”

The sensational court hearing concluded the downfall of a household name who was trusted by the BBC to anchor the most significant national and global news events.

Edwards’ offending related to 41 indecent images sent to him by a paedophile from South Wales who contacted him on Instagram in 2018 while he was “randomly attempting to contact famous people hoping that some would respond.”

The pair exchanged sexual messages until 2022, with Alex Williams, 25, sending at least 377 images to Edwards.

Williams was given a 12-month jail term suspended for two years in March after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images.

During the four years they were in contact, Edwards sent the sex offender between £1,000 and £1,500 (AUD$1956 - AUD$2934), including money for Nike trainers as a “Christmas gift after all the hot videos”.

Defence barrister Philip Evans KC said his client did not make any payments in order to receive indecent images.

Edwards received and opened seven category A images, 12 category B and 22 category C photos between December 2020 and August 2021.

Two of the category A images involved a child believed to be as young as seven, prosecutor Ian Hope said.

Edwards’ offending came to light after South Wales police seized Williams’ phone and discovered his WhatsApp conversations with the former BBC anchor.

Edwards was arrested on November 8 last year.

The investigation was unrelated to allegations reported in July 2023 that Edwards had paid a teenager more than £35,000 (AUD$68464) for sexual images.

Mr Evans said it was important to make clear that the concept of ‘making images’ is not taking photographs and the presenter had not created the content himself.

He said Edwards did not store any of the images on his devices, did not use them for personal gratification and had never tried to source such content before or since.

Mr Evans said: “He recognises the repugnant nature of those images and the hurt that is done to those who are in the images.

“For his part in that, he apologises sincerely and makes it clear that he is filled with the utmost regret.

“He has broken the trust of so many people. He has damaged his family and loved ones around him.”

Edwards has suffered with various physical and mental health problems and was diagnosed with the vascular disease arteriosclerosis last December, the court heard.

Sentencing him, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said: “I am of the clear view that you do not present a risk or danger to the public at large, specifically to children.

“There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

He declined to make a sexual harm prevention order against the former presenter.

Edwards will be subject to 25 rehabilitation sessions and added to the sex offender treatment programme for 40 days.

He was also ordered to pay £3,000 (AUD$5868) in prosecution costs. It remains unclear whether he will have to pay back the £200,000 (AUD$391227) he was paid by the BBC between his arrest and his resignation in April.

Corporation director general Tim Davie has confirmed that a formal request for the money to be returned has been made to its highest-paid newsreader, who was in a pay bracket of between £475,000 and £479,999 (AUD$929,164 - AUD$938,942) for 2023/24.

A spokesman for the corporation said: “We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”

Ex-colleagues were said to have been surprised Edwards had not been jailed.

“He should be in prison,” one said.

“He was chatting with a paedo for four years who then sent him child porn. And he didn’t go to the police. Yet he’s in court trying to suggest he is a victim. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so abhorrent.”

Zoe Lambourne, chief operating officer at child safety data institute Childlight, said the case was sadly far from unusual.

“We’re in the grip of a hidden pandemic, with an estimated 1.8 million UK people involved in sexually abusing and exploiting children online,” she added.

“This public health emergency is too big for law enforcement to counter alone but crucially, it is preventable through joint action to ensure child safety is always paramount.