TV bosses to face government grilling over Huw Edwards scandal as it emerges presenter was still paid after arrest

1 August 2024, 09:32

BBC bosses are to face a government grilling over the Huw Edwards scandal, after it emerged that senior executives in the corporation knew about his indecent child images arrest months before he left.

BBC chief Tim Davie is set to be questioned by culture minister Lisa Nandy on Thursday about what the corporation knew the former star broadcaster's case.

The BBC admitted on Wednesday that it knew in November about Edwards' arrest on "suspicion of serious offences", but continued employing him for several months after.

Edwards, 62, who pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child on Wednesday, finally left the BBC in April, but had come off the air the previous year after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.

Ms Nandy is likely to ask Mr Davie about why Edwards was still being paid - and was the highest paid newsreader at the corporation - for five months after his November arrest.

Before he quit in April, Edwards was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24.

Read more: Huw Edwards would have been sacked over 'abhorrent' behaviour, says BBC as it admits it was aware of his arrest

Read more: Huw Edwards admits making indecent images of children after being sent 41 illegal photos, including boy as young as 7

That was a £40,000 pay rise from 2022/23, when he was paid between £435,000 and £439,999.

The corporation makes a distinction between Edwards' arrest and charge, which came in June - two months after he left.

They said that if Edwards had been charged while he was still an employee it would have sacked him, but at the point of charge he no longer worked for the corporation.

The BBC said in a statement after Edwards' guilty plea: "In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation.

"At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health."

The corporation added: "The BBC is shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today. There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.

"Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court.

"If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him. In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC.

"During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions."

The public currently pays £169.50 a year for the licence fee and questions will surely be raised if Edwards' salary was the best use of that money.

Edwards admitted three charges of making indecent photographs, after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams, including one of a boy as young as seven.

The scandal with Edwards comes in the wake of the crimes of Jimmy Savile, the TV star and serial sexual abuser who managed to conceal his crimes until after his death in 2011.

At the time the annual report was published, Davie defended Edwards' £40,000 pay rise, saying: "We are always trying to be very judicious with the spending of public money and no-one wants to waste a pound.

"But what you're trying to do, and from the onset of that affair, was trying to act proportionally, fairly and navigate this appropriately.

"I think that's what we did... but I think we wouldn't have wasted money if we weren't doing the right thing."

Edwards will next appear in court on September 16.