Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has called an urgent meeting with BBC boss Tim Davie after the corporation admitted it knew of Huw Edwards’ arrest in November.
The 62-year-old, previously the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three charges of making indecent photographs of children, after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams, with seven being of the most serious type.
After his guilty plea at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the BBC said it had been made aware in confidence in November that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail while police investigations continued.
It said in a statement: “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.”
Edwards resigned in April “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors” after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
According to reports, Ms Nandy is expected to meet Mr Davie on Thursday to discuss the organisation’s handling of the case.
BBC not expected to erase Huw Edwards entirely from news archive
The BBC is not expected to delete moments presented by Huw Edwards from its online news archives, The Times reports.
With Edwards having been present for moments such as the death of Queen Elizabeth II over his 40-year career, staff members at the BBC said it was unlikely the broadcaster would erase many clips because of their historical significance.
“News is a matter of public record,” a BBC executive said, adding: “What a nightmare.”
Staff were busy on Monday night and Tuesday removing any content that features Edwards and blocking everything in the archive so it can’t be downloaded without high-level permission, another staff member said.
They added: “They can take down documentaries and other content that doesn’t relate to news but they can’t take that down because it is considered social history.”
Andy Gregory1 August 2024 08:35
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy to meet BBC boss Tim Davie
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy will hold an urgent meeting with BBC boss Tim Davie after Huw Edwards admitted accessing indecent images of children.
It comes after the corporation said it knew of the veteran broadcaster’s arrest on “suspicion of serious offences” in November, but kept employing him until he resigned in April “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors”, after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
According to reports, Ms Nandy is expected to meet Mr Davie on Thursday to discuss the organisation’s handling of the case.
Andy Gregory1 August 2024 08:21
Full report: Huw Edwards pleads guilty to making indecent images of children
Huw Edwards faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children – including two sexual videos of a boy as young as seven.
The former BBC News at Ten anchor, aged 62, admitted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to having 41 indecent images of children on his phone, seven of which were category A – the very worst kind.
Also among the 377 sexual images discovered by police – sent to him by 25-year-old convicted paedophile Alex Williams from Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, between December 2020 and August 2021 – were 12 category B images, and 22 category C images.
My colleague Athena Stavrou has more in this report from Westminster Magistrates’ Court:
Andy Gregory1 August 2024 08:06
We’ll be using this blog to bring you live updates as culture secretary Lisa Nandy is reportedly set to meet BBC boss Tim Davie over the corporation’s handling of Huw Edwards’ case.
Andy Gregory1 August 2024 08:04