Huw Edwards has been handed a six-month jail sentence suspended for two years after admitting accessing indecent images of children.
The disgraced BBC presenter, 63, appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to discover his fate.
As well as the suspended sentence, he will be required to complete a sex offender programme, and will be placed on the sex offenders register for seven years, which means he needs to keep the police informed of his whereabouts.
Following his sentencing, the BBC issued a statement, saying: ‘We are appalled by his crimes.
‘He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.’
Chief Magistrate, district judge Paul Goldspring, told Edwards – who appeared emotional as he listened to sentencing – that his ‘long-earned reputation is in tatters’, while he is ‘of previous good character’.
He added that a psycho-sexual therapist who was an expert in the case said Edwards was in a ‘perfect storm’ at the time, while Goldspring said evidence shows that Edwards’ mental health struggles at the time mean he has no memory of which images he viewed.
The magistrate also said the presenter did not pose a risk to the public or children.
Edwards has been handed a six-month sentence suspended for two years (Picture: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
Defence barrister Philip Evans said Edwards was ‘truly sorry’ for how he has ‘damaged his family and his loved ones’, and for committing the offences, telling the court he ‘has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people’.
Opening the case, prosecutor Ian Hope said it is ‘clear that Mr Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money – low hundreds of pounds on an occasional basis’ to Alex Williams for the images.
Williams has stated that the money was more generally to support him at university and amounted to around £1,000 to £1,500.
Hope added: ‘From that chat in December 2020, Alex Williams said that he had “a file of vids and pics for you of someone special”.
‘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.’
It’s said these were ‘category C images of children’, with Williams then asking if Edwards wanted him to send ‘the full file’.
Hope continued: ‘Mr Edwards responded “Yes xxx…” immediately following which Alex Williams sent to Mr Edwards around 30 attachments, about half of which were category C indecent images of children.’
Williams asked for a ‘Christmas gift after all the hot videos’ from Huw Edwards, the court heard.
Prosecutor Hope said the convicted paedophile offered to send 12 videos in December 2020 and the then-BBC presenter responded that he could not see the latest batch but ‘the others were amazing’.
Edwards was pictured leaving court moments after his sentence was handed down (Picture:James Manning/PA Wire)
The ex-BBC star looked tired as he exited Westminster Magistrate’s Court on Monday afternoon (Picture: AP)
The court heard a new link contained a category C image of a child aged around 12 to 14 and a category A image.
The court was told Edwards didn’t reply after a Williams sent him a sexual video of children aged around seven to nine and 11 to 13.
The prosecutor said said: ‘On February 10, 2021, a category A video was sent which is notable because the age of one of the children involved was significantly younger than in the rest of the images sent – it showed several acts of penetration between two children aged around seven to nine and 11 to 13 respectively.
‘There was no direct response from Mr Edwards to this video, beyond it being marked as “read”. A week later… a number of attachments were sent which included two category B videos and four category C still images comprising indecent images of children.’
On February 19 2021, Williams asked if the material was ‘too young’ for him, and three days later Edwards replied: ‘Don’t send underage.’
The court heard that after that February 22 reply, a ‘handful’ of further indecent images of children were sent, one of which was a category A video on June 10, 2021 which was marked ‘read’ on WhatsApp, and the children involved were 13 to 15 years old.
Philip Evans KC, defending, said Edwards did not make payments to Williams in order to receive indecent images of children.
He told the court: ‘Mr Edwards did not make payments in order for images to be sent to him, and he certainly did not make payments in order that indecent images would be sent to him.
‘Mr Edwards positively told Mr Williams not to send images of people who were underage.’
Evans added that the presenter ‘did not gain any gratification’ from indecent images, while ‘he did not store any of those images on any device’, or seek out similar images ‘from any other source’ before or since.
‘His character remains a mitigating feature,’ Edwards defence continued. ‘He did not use his position in order to commit these offences. Alex Williams sought him out on Instagram at a time when Mr Edwards could properly be described as [mentally] vulnerable.’
Edwards was a regular newsreader for the BBC (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)
Edwards was seen pulling a suitcase as he entered Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning flanked by his legal team, but the travel bag was not with him at the stand.
The BBC reports that he appeared ‘pensive’ in the courtroom, and looked ‘tired and drawn’ when he took to the dock.
After his sentencing was read out, Edwards was pictured leaving court looking solemn, pulling the suitcase he had with him on arrival. He did not speak to awaiting media outside the courthouse.
Earlier in the day, he arrived in court wearing a blue cardigan as well as his wedding ring, and looked sternly at photographers who were stood close to the entrance, before smiling at onlookers.
Edwards has been on conditional bail following his guilty pleas in July, after he was was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp.
Edwards was previously warned that ‘all options’ are on the table for his sentencing, including an immediate jail term.
Edwards was arrested in November last year, and pleaded guilty to the making of indecent images of children between December 2020 and April 2021.
He was seen wearing his wedding ring as he entered court (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Seven of the indecent images shared with Edwards by Williams were of the most serious type.
Of those images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine.
Williams was charged in relation to his WhatsApp chat with Edwards and was convicted of seven offences following an investigation by South Wales Police – receiving a 12-month suspended sentence.
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.
It has asked Edwards 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.
The broadcaster was wearing a white shirt, dark trousers and a blue cardigan (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Edwards showed ‘remorse’ for the offences (Picture: Karwai Tang)
Lynn Perry, Chief Executive of Barnardo’s, said: ‘The sexual abuse of children, including abuse online, has a devastating and life-long effect on the lives of survivors.
‘Huw Edwards was a trusted public figure at the heart of the national media for decades. In the midst of this case, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that at the heart of this are children as young as seven who are victims of horrific sexual abuse.
‘Tens of thousands of children are sexually exploited or groomed online every year. We urge tech companies to take action to make sure abuse material can’t be shared on their platforms.
‘When children are abused, and images of this are shared online, they must receive urgent, specialist support – something that is sadly unavailable to many children nationwide. We’re also calling on the government to ensure that no child is left without specialist support after being sexually abused and exploited.’
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