Disgraced Huw Edwards sentenced for indecent images of children (original) (raw)

Huw Edwards was told his reputation was in tatters as he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years today. The shamed face of the BBC had pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

The disgraced BBC presenter sat in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court leaning forward with his hands held together and his elbows propped on his thighs as chief magistrate Paul Goldspring addressed him. The 63-year-old father of five had pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. One of the images featured a child aged between seven and nine.

The court had heard that Edwards had paid a convicted paedophile Alex Williams, after he sent him indecent images of children. At one point in their conversation, Williams said he had "naughty" and "young" images, to which Edwards replied: "go on".

Latest updates and reaction: Huw Edwards sent money to man who sent him indecent videos of children, disgraced BBC presenter's sentencing told

Mr Goldspring said that the disgraced presenter had been going through mental trauma at the time of the offending and accepted that he had no memory of which images he had viewed. He ordered him to carry out a sex offender treatment requirement of 40 days and a rehabilitation activity requirement of 25 days.

Referring to the images, he said: "You did not keep them and you did not send them on to anyone else. I accept that you had issues with your mental health. The degree that you received sexual gratification from the images is difficult to assess.”

He quoted a psycho-sexual therapist who said that Edwards had been going through a "perfect storm" at a difficult period in his life when he turned to online relationships. The same expert said that Edwards was a "complex individual" due his childhood, and described his father as “puritanical”. Edwards nodded as that was read out.

Photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of former BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards

The expert's report said: "The restrictive, puritanical, but often hypocritical, background of growing up in the particular cultural milieu of south Wales, with a father who was highly regarded and lauded outside the family, but was perceived as behaving monstrously within the family, created both an enduring cognitive dissonance and low self-esteem, compounded by a sense of being inferior by not getting into Oxford and going to Cardiff instead and being therefore something of an outsider at the BBC.

“I consider that all of this, including and, as well as the persistent depressive disorder, with intermittent bouts of clinical depression, though none as severe as the current one, significantly and adversely affected Mr Edwards’ decision making in relation to looking after himself and, crucially in this context, his interaction with co-workers and strangers via social media. His reported conduct reflects this.”

He added: “His social media engagement presented as an easy way to manage his low mood and provided him with a number of men and women who were motivated to be sexual with him which not only boosted his fragile self- esteem but allowed him to re-engage with his sexual interest in men which had been managed since 1994.

“The feelings of being desirable and unseen alongside Mr Edwards’ unresolved sexual orientation created a perfect storm where he engaged in sexual infidelities and became vulnerable to people blackmailing him."

The expert said that Edwards had shown "insight, shame and remorse". “It’s obvious that until now you were very highly regarded by the public,” he continued, adding that Edwards was “perhaps the most recognised newsreader-journalist”.

Suspending his jail sentence, the judge said that the custody threshold had been crossed but that he would be vulnerable in prison and that he had shown remorse and had a mental disorder. Edwards will be on the sex offenders' register for seven years, meaning he has to notify police of his whereabouts.

Edwards had been involved in online chat with the paedophile Alex Williams on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021 who sent him 377 sexual images of which 41 were indecent images of children. The bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period.

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 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.

Edwards barrister Philip Evans KC said that his client did not “create” the images “in the sense most people would understand of the word. He had received them and opened them, which is captured by the wording of the charge. The CPS said the offence of making an indecent image can range from opening an attachment to accessing pornographic websites in which indecent photographs of children appear by way of an automatic “pop-up” mechanism.

Huw Edwards arriving at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 16 (Image: Getty Images)

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.

In Edwards' case, the fact that there were moving images and the age of the child at between seven and nine in two of the images is an aggravating factor. But his early guilty plea, his previous good character, his mental health issues, and his remorse are mitigating factors.

At the BBC, Edwards covered historic events including Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral, the coronation of King Charles III and announced the late Queen’s death on the BBC in September 2022.

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