Huw Edwards appeared at court today still wearing his wedding ring to receive his sentence for receiving sexual images of children as young as seven, Daily Mail reports.
The disgraced former BBC News star Huw Edwards walked into Westminster Magistrates Court dressed in a dark blue cardigan, dark trousers and an open-topped white shirt and pulling a black wheelie suitcase.
According to the report by Daily Mail, the 63-year-old Huw Edwards looked haggard as he scowled and looked down at the ground while passing a throng of the world’s media. He made no comment as he walked into the modern courthouse, where a small group of protesters had gathered with placards reading ‘BBC Savile Syndrome’.
In July, the former News At Ten host admitted three charges of ‘making’ indecent photographs of children after he was sent 41 images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams in vile WhatsApp messages.
The maximum sentence Huw Edwards could receive from the magistrates’ court is six months, but he could be sent to crown court if the presiding district judge decides they do not have appropriate powers to sentence the ex-presenter.
The three offences he has pleaded guilty to can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. A community order and sexual offender treatment programme could also be considered as alternatives to a custodial sentence.
Williams was charged in relation to his WhatsApp chat with Huw Edwards and was convicted of seven offences following an investigation by South Wales Police – receiving a 12-month suspended sentence.
The final indecent image was sent in August 2021, a category A film featuring a young boy, with the convicted paedophile telling the newsreader the child was ‘quite young looking’ and that he had more images which were illegal.
Overall the charges cover a period between December 2020 and August 2021.
The BBC has admitted it was informed that the former TV presenter had been arrested in November but continued to employ him for around five months until he left on medical advice.
What is ‘making’ indecent images?
Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of ‘making’ indecent images of children in July.
The Crown Prosecution Service says it can include:
opening an email attachment containing an image
downloading an image from a website to a screen
storing an image on a computer
accessing a pornographic website in which an image appears in an automatic ‘pop-up’ window
receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited and even if part of a group
or live-streaming images of children
A court must also decide whether an offence calls into the category of possession, distribution or production.
Huw Edwards, one of the BBC’s most famous stars who presented the Queen’s death and King Charles’ coronation, has not been on TV since he was named by his wife as the high-profile presenter at the centre of a sexual pictures scandal in July 2023.
In the completely separate case, Edwards was accused of paying £35,000 to a young person in exchange for sexual images.
The Met Police confirmed that no criminal offence was committed in this instance.
The mother of the teenager told The Sun that Edwards has caused ‘immense pain and suffering’ and should be locked up.
In a powerful open letter published by the newspaper, she said: ‘I am today writing this open letter to make you understand the immense pain and suffering you have caused me, my son, my family, your own family – and all of your victims over the years.’
She said that her ‘heart breaks for every one’ of the young children ‘robbed of their innocence forever for your sick pleasure’ and their families who have gone through what she has.
She wrote of how her son was happy before the disgraced news anchor ‘wormed’ his way into the teenager’s life from the age of 17.
The distressed mother said her son began having problems with drink and drugs, which was further fuelled by Edwards’ ‘pestering him for pictures’ and paying him ‘tens of thousands’.
She said Edwards: ‘Sent text messages calling him ‘Princess’ to control him and keep him onside.’
Concluding the letter, she told Edwards: ‘That you have lost everything is no consolation to us. You will receive your punishment in court.’
The teenager who was paid £35,000 by the former BBC star is now 21. He allegedly was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement and said he felt ‘groomed’ by the disgraced presenter.
Although no criminality was found from these allegations, the Met revealed in July this year that Edwards had separately been charged with making indecent images of children.
In a dramatic fall from grace, the force confirmed Edwards had been arrested on November 8 2023 and charged on June 26 2024.
Five days later, Edwards pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children – and will be sentenced today.
Edwards, who resigned from the BBC in April, has been asked to repay the £200,000 salary he has received since his arrest.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said the money should be returned and that the corporation will ‘explore’ the legal process if Edwards refuses.
Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah were questioned by the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee last Wednesday.
Regarding the disgraced presenter’s pay, Mr Davie said: ‘We’ve made the formal request, and I can’t go into too much detail, but discussions are under way, but I’ve got no further news, apart from the BBC’s position is clear, the money should be returned, and we made the request.’
When asked if he set a deadline, he said: ‘I don’t believe we set a deadline… but we do expect to make progress and get an answer.’
Mr Shah told the same committee that Edwards had ‘damaged’ the BBC’s reputation.
He said: ‘There’s nothing more important than public trust in the BBC, and we are custodians of that trust and what Huw Edwards did damaged the reputation and the trust for the BBC so we take that very seriously indeed.
‘I should say, it was a shock to discover, when it was announced, when he was charged, that he had led this double life.
‘On the face of it, a trusted news presenter, but hidden, secretly, he was this figure who did the most appalling things. I mean, let’s never forget the victims.’
He added that he ‘knew him’, having overseen current affairs at the BBC decades ago, and said that other staff who worked with him ‘feel angry and betrayed’ by Edwards.
The relevant images range from the most serious category, known as category A, to the least serious, known as Category C.
They include seven category A images, 12 category B images, and 22 category C images.
The Sentencing Council, a public body sponsored by the Ministry Of Justice, defines category A images as those involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism.
Category B images are those involving non-penetrative sexual activity, while category C images are indecent images that do not fall into A or B.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), ‘making’ an indecent image has been broadly interpreted by the courts.
It can range from opening an attachment to an email containing an image, to accessing pornographic websites in which indecent photographs of children appear by way of an automatic ‘pop-up’ mechanism.
In the case of Edwards, he received the illegal images as part of a WhatsApp conversation.
Speaking in Edwards’ defence, his barrister Philip Evans KC has said that his client had not ‘created’ the images ‘in the traditional sense of the word
The maximum prison sentence for making an indecent image of a child is 10 years.
Sentencing guidelines set the starting point for any jail term for possession of a category A image at 12 months, with a range of 26 weeks to three years.
The starting point is 26 weeks for a category B image, and a community order for category C.
A number of potential defences to the charge exist, including not seeing the images and having no reason to believe that the images were indecent, having a legitimate reason to possess the images, or if the images were unsolicited and not kept for an unreasonable amount of time.
Aggravating features to be taken into account for Edwards include that the images included moving images, and the young age of the child thought to be seven to nine years old in two of the category A images.
Mitigating factors are Edwards’ early guilty plea, his previous good character, his mental health issues, and his remorse.