Former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has instructed a high-powered legal team to defend him in his criminal case following his guilty plea to making indecent images of children.
Edwards is being represented by BCL Solicitors, the slogan of which is ‘Shelter through the Storm’, according to the London firm’s website. BCL specialises in corporate crime, financial crime, regulatory enforcement and criminal defence. It acts for companies and individuals.
The firm confirmed that Ellen Peart, partner, and Kate Chanter, senior associate, are working on Edwards’ criminal defence.
Peart is head of the serious & general crime team at BCL. In February this year she represented the Beckenham MP Bob Stewart as he successfully appealed against his conviction for a racially aggravated public order offence, over telling an activist to ‘go back to Bahrain’.
BCL instructed Philip Evans KC, of QEB Hollis Whiteman, to represent Edwards during his first appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where the former presenter admitted having 41 indecent images of children.
It previously saw off a £3 million conspiracy claim brought against a solicitor who had worked at a firm which was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, where the owner had been subsequently convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison. BCL managed to obtain a summary judgement dismissing all the claims, which it said were potentially career-ending and worth £3m in damages.
Edwards will be represented when he returns to court for a hearing at which he faces receiving a sentence of immediate imprisonment.
The 62-year-old could also be facing further allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the future, as the Sun newspaper – which initially broke the news of his suspension – reports it has a dossier of complaints submitted to it over the years.