Edwards, as soon as the highest-paid presenter on the BBC who led landmark protection — together with Queen Elizabeth II’s loss of life and the London 2012 Olympics — was arrested in November.
Former BBC Information presenter Huw Edwards has been handed a six-month jail sentence suspended for 2 years after pleading responsible to creating indecent photographs of kids.
The 63-year-old stated he was “profoundly sorry” for the “repugnant” photographs earlier than he was sentenced on Monday at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom in a case that has shocked the U.Ok.
He should additionally attend a intercourse offender rehabilitation intercourse offender’s program, of which there are 25 classes in whole. The suspended sentence implies that Edwards will solely serve jail time if he reoffends within the subsequent two years.
The previous newscaster was arrested in November and charged in July after he was discovered to have 41 indecent photographs of kids despatched to him by one other man, a convicted pedophile, on WhatsApp.
The offenses are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022. Seven of the photographs had been class A photographs, probably the most extreme classification, two of which confirmed a baby between seven and 9, the court docket heard.
The BBC didn’t instantly make an official assertion on the sentencing.
The anchorman, who hosted the BBC’s flagship Information at Ten program and led landmark protection for the company — together with the loss of life of Queen Elizabeth II and the London 2012 Olympics — arrived on the court docket to a swarm of photographers. He was suspended by the BBC in July 2023 after allegations in The Solar emerged that he paid a teen for sexually express photographs (police didn’t take any motion in opposition to Edwards referring to these fees, saying there was no proof a legal offense had been dedicated). He formally resigned from the channel in April this yr.
However the U.Ok.’s main information group confronted a grilling on precisely what they knew and when. Edwards was paid between £475,000-£479,999 (round $627,000-632,000) from April 2023 to April 2024. Final month, he was requested to pay the BBC again round £200,000 ($255,000).
The BBC was instructed by the Metropolitan Police “in strict confidence” that Edwards was arrested in November. Director-general Tim Davie stated: “We knew it was critical, we knew no specifics, other than the class of the potential offenses.”
He added bosses on the BBC weren’t conscious of the ages of the youngsters within the photographs, and when requested why Edwards was not sacked on the time of his arrest, Davie responded: “As a result of the police got here to us and stated they should do their work in whole confidence, [and said], ‘please preserve this confidential.’”
“We thought lengthy and exhausting about this. This wasn’t a knee-jerk determination. When you consider this when it comes to precedent, folks do get arrested, after which we’ve had conditions the place [there are] no fees, and there’s nothing there to be adopted up on.” Davie stated that the BBC additionally needed to think about its obligation of care to Edwards.
Even the U.Ok. authorities’s tradition secretary Lisa Nandy intervened to probe the BBC on its dealing with of the case. A spokesperson for the Division of Tradition, Media, and Sport (DCMS) instructed The Hollywood Reporter in August that Nandy was “shocked” by Edwards’ “abhorrent actions.” The DCMS stated it was as much as the judiciary to resolve on “an applicable sentence” for the previous information anchor.
Below British regulation, photographs can imply photographs or movies. “Making” indecent photographs covers a spread of actions per its authorized definition. It could possibly, for instance, embody opening an e-mail attachment with a picture, downloading a picture from a web site to a display screen; storing a picture on a pc; accessing a pornographic web site through which photographs seem in “pop-up” home windows; or receiving a picture by way of social media, even when unsolicited and if a part of a gaggle; in addition to live-streaming photographs of kids.
After the information of Edwards’ responsible plea was introduced, a Physician Who episode co-starring the previous information anchor was faraway from BBC iPlayer. Followers are additionally known as for his scene within the James Bond movie Skyfall to be lower.
