Huw Edwards paid paedophile over £1,000 for dark web images and called photos 'amazing'
16 September 2024, 11:04 | Updated: 16 September 2024, 11:53
Disgraced former BBC presenter Huw Edwards paid a paedophile over £1,000 for dark web images, and later called some photos "amazing", a court has heard ahead of his sentencing.
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Edwards is due to be sentenced at Wesminster Magistrates' Court for accessing indecent images of children as young as seven.
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 accessed images on the dark web, which he then sent to Edwards.
Edwards paid him between £1,000 and £1,500 for the images, which Williams, who was 19 when the relationship began, used to support himself at university.
The broadcaster apologised for his criminal activity via his lawyer in court on Monday.
Most of the images were lawful and depicted young looking adult men, but a significant amount were of children.
In December 2020, Williams said he had a file of pictures and videos for someone special.
Edwards asked who the subject was and was sent three images of children aged between 14 and 16. Williams asked if Edwards wanted the full file of around 30 images, to which the broadcaster said: "yes xxx".
Around half of these were indecent images from Category C.
Williams then sent ten more attachments. Half of these were Category B moving images. The final image was Category A - the most serious.
Williams asked for a "Christmas gift after all the hot videos", the court heard.
Prosecutor Ian 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". T
The court heard a new link contained a category C image of a child aged around 12 to 14 and a category A image. "Three-quarters of an hour later, Alex Williams again asks for 'a Christmas gift after all the hot videos' and Mr Edwards immediately responds 'what do you need?'," the prosecutor continued.
"Alex Williams says he wants some Air Force 1 trainers that cost around £100, and Mr Edwards offers to send him £200."
The court was told Huw Edwards did not respond after Williams sent him a sexual video of children aged around seven to nine and 11 to 13.
Mr Hope 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, Alex Williams asked 'is the stuff I'm sending too young for you?'
"The next response from Mr Edwards is dated February 22 2021 saying 'don't send underage'."
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."
Mr Evans went on: "You will have appreciated, sir, that the press has been extraordinary to the extent that this matter has been reported and Mr Edwards through me wishes to apologise to the court.
"He wishes the court, through me, to know how profoundly sorry he is. He recognises the repugnant nature of such indecent images and the hurt that is done to those who appear in such images.
"For his part in that, he apologises sincerely and he makes it clear that he has the utmost regret and he recognises that he has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people.
"He knows he has hurt and he has damaged his family and his loved ones around him and for all of these things he is truly sorry and he is truly sorry that he has committed these offences."
Huw Edwards arrives at court
Edwards admitted three charges of "making" indecent photographs after being sent the images by Williams.
Edwards arrived at court this morning wearing a cardigan and pulling a hold-all, while protesters stood outside court holding placards saying: "Protect our children, hold the BBC accountable."
As he entered Westminster Magistrates' Court, the veteran broadcaster looked sternly at photographers who were stationed close to the entrance.
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 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.
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.
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.
During his four decades at the corporation, Edwards was among the broadcasting teams leading coverage of historic events including the late Queen's funeral in 2022 and most recently the coronation of the King in May 2023.
Edwards also announced the late Queen's death on the BBC in September 2022.
