SHAMED Huw Edwards wooed a young man by sending pictures of himself posing with celebrities including Dame Mary Berry and Sir Tom Jones.
The man — then 23 — said it felt like Edwards, 62, was boasting of his BBC and showbiz connections to impress him.
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The pair had met in 2020 via a dating site before Edwards asked him to “move to WhatsApp” to chat privately.
He then sent a flurry of star selfies and provocative messages.
The latest revelations came as it also emerged:
- AN ex-BBC chairwoman publicly thanked shamed Edwards despite knowing he had been arrested
- A BEEB news chief was informed of the decision to charge him even though stars had insisted on air that the department knew nothing.
In his WhatsApp messages to the man, newsreader Edwards sent a snap of himself with telly cook Mary on set at a Christmas Great British Bake Off special, boasting: “How bout me and Mary B.”
The man, who we are not identifying, replied: “Looking good.”
Edwards then said: “Well that’s good. Think I’m too old?”
On another occasion, Edwards sent a snap of him with singer Sir Tom and wrote: “Thought you’d like this of me with Tom.”
The young man replied: “Hehe that’s a great pic. You’re lucky to meet Mary Berry and Tom Jones.”
Edwards wrote back: “He’s not bad for 108 or whatever he is.”
The presenter also sent selfies from the BBC studios in work time, a snap of his desk, and even sent a professional picture of himself, saying: “Had some new portraits done.”
The messages were sent between December 2020 and February 2021.
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During the same period, the former News at Ten anchor was receiving indecent images and videos of children as young as seven.
The man said: “He was always talking about his career and people he knew.
“The whole thing was creepy. It was as if he thought I should respect him because of his job.
“But then he would always make it sexual straight after and he asked me for pictures of myself.
“At times he would just deposit money into my PayPal. It felt like he was trying to get me to send explicit images by doing these things, like I had to because he was this big TV star and if I did there would be a reward.”
The young man complained to the BBC as part of its probe into Edwards after The Sun’s story broke in July last year.
He was interviewed but said yesterday: “Nobody ever got back to me.”
He said Edwards pressured him for a meeting, even though England was in a strict Covid lockdown three-tier system, which advised against travel to other areas.
The man went on: “He was always asking to meet and I found it quite pressurising.
“There were restrictions and they kept getting stricter but he constantly asked.
“I fobbed him off but he became so persistent I finally gave in.
“I was quite shocked that he broke the rules to come and meet me because of who he is.
“He showed one side in public and another in private it seemed.
“He had tried to use his power to get me to do what he wanted. I feel like it was all part of a sick game.”
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The BBC continued to pay Edwards’ £480,000 licence-fee funded salary following his arrest last November until he quit without a pay-off in April.
Despite knowing cops had hauled him in, ex-BBC chairwoman Dame Elan Closs Stephens last month branded him “poor Huw” and called his downfall a “sad story”.
In a radio interview on July 2, she also accused this newspaper of “making the most of it” because Edwards was so well-known.
Dame Elan, who confirmed she knew of the arrest, added: “The first thing of course was ensuring Huw was alright and that the family received care and protection.”
SALARY ROW
She also told Welsh broadcaster S4C the exact details of Edwards’ offending came as a shock to her and she was “horrified by it all”.
But she was criticised for her comments with former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith calling them “at best, clumsy and ill-advised”.
And ex-Tory minister Alec Shelbrooke accused her and the BBC of “protecting their stars”, adding: “She should directly apologise for what she said. She’s made a massive error of judgement.”
Amid clamour for Edwards to return some of his pay, questions have also been raised about how much the BBC knew when it was told about his arrest last November.
Insiders yesterday said that the corporation may have misled viewers by claiming no one in its news department was aware.
Bosses had star presenters Clive Myrie and Sophie Raworth insist live on air that the BBC’s news arm was independent from its corporate teams while reporting on itself.
But it has emerged BBC News CEO Deborah Turness had been informed of the arrest in her role as Edwards’ line manager.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie insisted the exec stepped back from editorial work on the story and had no input on how it was reported.
One BBC reporter said claims that the news department was unaware was a “reputationally a grey area”.
They added: “If you have presenters going on air saying no one in news knew but Deborah did, then strictly speaking that’s not true.”
Last night, the Sunday Times reported that only four BBC board members were initially aware of Edwards’ arrest — Davie, Turness, Dame Elan and senior independent director, Sir Nicholas Serota.
It also said the BBC is paying for therapy for a vulnerable woman who made two complaints about Edwards in May 2021 and January 2022.
The Beeb is said to have warned the presenter about his conduct.
The BBC declined to comment.
Courage of mum who nailed him
ON the face of it, they are worlds apart. One gets by on her partner’s modest labouring pay packet and spends the day keeping her home spic and span.
The other loved sipping champagne before he sidled into hair and make-up ahead of his nightly TV addresses to the nation.
But it was the very ordinary housewife who ended up bringing down the BBC’s most powerful presenter.
It was her extraordinary courage and commitment to the truth which ended in Huw Edwards’ cataclysmic fall from grace.
The mum sat in her modest living room in a working-class suburb of Wales, watching Huw deliver his bulletin every night at ten.
In fact, the Welshman was her favourite newsreader.
But thanks to her campaign for justice, Edwards would end up being the centre of a story he could never deliver — his exposure as a sex abuser. It began almost 18 months ago — with Edwards riding high.
When I arrived at the mum and stepfather’s home, I sat in astonishment as they detailed how they had uncovered a hideous dark side of the man they watched on television.
He had wormed his way into the life of their troubled son — initially when he was 17 — and was making ever-more depraved demands.
I believed every word they were saying. In fact, The Sun had a dossier of evidence against the veteran broadcaster going back six years.
From the moment the parents’ told me their story to the day Edwards pleaded guilty in court to child abuse image charges, their claims have never changed — even when they were called liars.
I remember when the statement dropped from their son that the whole thing was “total rubbish”.
My heart sank as I knew what was coming — a free-for-all to attack them.
We now know the lad’s intervention only came about because he was under Edwards’ sinister control.
He told a newspaper he felt compelled to come to his defence but later realised he was being used and abused.
All our front pages were right. The panicked calls Huw made, lawyers peddling lies, and cash still being given to the lad in an attempt to get him out of the picture.
But the lad’s statement was immediately seized upon by Edwards’ army of well-heeled pals, horrified by commoners calling out their big mate.
They couldn’t wait to leap to his defence. People called them bad parents.
My reports were picked apart on BBC News at 10 and I was vilified — this is just a tabloid newspaper trying to destroy someone’s life.
The parents were suddenly at the centre of one of the biggest media frenzies in the last decade — and I was with them in the eye of the storm.
The BBC likes to say it strives for transparency and exists for everyone. Well, not in their experience I’m afraid.
A mission statement on the Corporation’s website runs to more than 600 words and says its core values are trust, respect and accountability.
There was little of any of that in the response the family received when they tried to raise the alarm. In fact, the cornerstones of their approach were distrust and contempt.
The BBC emails were aggressive, or worse, at times dismissive. The family was treated with disdain.
And the lead investigator didn’t even attend their interview about the probe.
When they were brought in for a “fact-finding” interview, it lasted for less than an hour and the questions were weak.
And there were none directed at the mother, whose evidence was critical.
Basic details seemed beyond the investigators’ grasp.
My dealings with the BBC were the same — dragging their feet, closing ranks.
There was no care about the family’s welfare and it didn’t feel like they were taken seriously.
Until, that is, around Christmas, which we now know is when Huw was arrested.
The attitude, I’m told, changed, and the aggression made way for a polite, near-friendliness.
Even the BBC’s army of faceless spokesmen and esteemed lawyers couldn’t make this one go away.
But what happened is so much more than a newspaper story.
It’s a tale of a terrible crusade which brought a family to their knees. A family rift with Edwards at its heart.
Now mum and son have both said their piece.
I have my own perspective on the relationship but out of respect I’ll say no more.
What is most clear is mum and son are finally in agreement that Huw abused his position of power and groomed a vulnerable teenager.
And although they may disagree on the tiny details, what lifted my heart was a line he told a newspaper yesterday: “If it wasn’t for my mum he’d still be getting away with it.”
The truth is now out there and the parents have been vindicated.
They now need time to heal.