Huw Edwards spared jail after paying paedophile up to £1,500 for child abuse images
16 September 2024, 12:58 | Updated: 16 September 2024, 14:16
Huw Edwards has avoided jail despite admitting paying a paedophile as much as £1,500 for child abuse images.
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Edwards, 63, was given six months suspended for two years, after admitting three charges of "making" indecent photographs after being sent the images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp.
Edwards will also have to attend 25 sessions of a sex offender programme and will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for seven years. He will also have to pay £3,128 in costs and a victim surcharge.
Huw Edwards arrives at court for sentencing
The former BBC newsreader paid paedophile Williams over £1,000 in gifts after being sent hundreds of dark web images, 41 of which were illegal.
Read more: Huw Edwards paid paedophile over £1,000 for dark web images and called photos 'amazing'
The judge said his crimes were "extremely serious offences" but that he did not present a danger to children.
Paul Goldspring told him: "You were perhaps the most recognised newsreader and journalist in the UK,
"It is not an exaggeration to say your reputation is in tatters."
He said he accepted that Edwards had mental health issues, telling him: "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."
The court heard that Edwards was approached by paedophile Alex Williams in 2018, and began exchanging messages online, as well as having one phone call.
Williams sent him hundreds of images over several years.
The court was later told Edwards is "truly sorry" for how he had "damaged his family and his loved ones" and for committing the offences.
His barrister Philip Evans KC said his client is a man of previous good character, continuing: "He has lost that good character.
"He has lost that good character in a very public way. That is, we respectfully submit, a matter of some significance and we know that the court will not underestimate the effect that that will have had on him.
"He has not worked since leaving employment with the BBC."
The BBC said after the sentencing that Edwards had "betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him", adding that they were "appalled" by his crimes.
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.
Claire Brinton of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Accessing indecent images of children perpetuates the sexual exploitation of them, which has deep, long-lasting trauma for these victims.
"The CPS and Metropolitan Police were able to prove that Edwards was receiving illegal images and videos involving children via WhatsApp.
"This prosecution sends a clear message that the CPS, working alongside the police, will work to bring to justice those who seek to exploit children, wherever that abuse takes place."
Rani Govender, Child Safety Online Policy Manager at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: “Online child sexual abuse is at record levels and offenders like Edwards who fuel this crime should be in no doubt about its severity and the impact it has on victims.
“Companies must also act by putting technology in place that can identify and disrupt child abuse images being shared on their messaging services so victims can be safeguarded and offenders prosecuted.
“If anyone is sent or sees a child abuse image online they should report it immediately. The NSPCC Helpline is available for advice and support in this situation or if you are concerned about the safety of a young person.”
