BBC asks Huw Edwards to return more than £200,000

Huw Edwards has been asked by the BBC to hand back more than £200,000 salary he earned after being arrested in November on child abuse image charges.

The ex-presenter “behaved in bad faith” in continuing to take his salary despite knowing what he had done, said BBC Chair Samir Shah in a letter to staff.

Edwards, formerly the BBC’s most high-profile newsreader, continued to earn his salary for five months after he was arrested on three counts of making indecent images of children.

He was suspended in July last year and arrested four months later. He did not resign from the BBC until April.

Mr Shah said Edwards had been “living a double life” as someone who on the face of it was a much-admired broadcaster but who had “betrayed the trust of staff and our audiences”.

He said the broadcaster was the “villain of the piece” and the “victims are those children for whose degradation” he provided a market for.

Edwards pleaded guilty in July to three counts of making indecent images of children.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022 and relate to 37 images that were shared on a WhatsApp chat, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The BBC has not confirmed whether legal proceedings will be undertaken if Edwards refuses to pay back his salary.

Director general Tim Davie confirmed in an interview last week that the corporation knew the presenter had been arrested over the most serious category of indecent images of children in November.

It is understood that when Edwards was arrested, the BBC sought to establish if he admitted having images of this nature. The BBC apparently did query this but was unable to establish that fact.

In a statement, the BBC Board said it “supports the decisions taken by the director general and his team during this period”.

It added that had Edwards been up front when asked by the BBC about his arrest, “we would never have continued to pay him public money”.

“He has clearly undermined the trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute”.

The statement also said the board has “agreed to look at lessons from this period, including the BBC’s approach to the rules surrounding payments when employees are suspended”.

It noted that while the nature of the charges relate to his own personal life, “the board believes these events have also put a spotlight on the question of power imbalances in the workplace”.

Between April 2023 and April 2024, Edwards received a salary between £475,000-£479,999, an increase of £40,000 on the previous year.

The BBC’s production arm, BBC Studios, also paid Edwards for covering royal and state events. This amount of money is not revealed publicly.

Last week, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Edwards should return the £200,000 to the BBC.

The BBC has also announced a new independent review into workplace culture.

The review will “include work already being undertaken within the BBC, as well as working with the rest of the industry as appropriate”.

More information, including the leadership of the review will be announced in early September.

The culture secretary welcomed the review and said “public trust in the BBC is essential”.

“BBC staff must be able to feel safe in the workplace and be confident that if non-editorial complaints are raised they will be acted upon and dealt with fairly and decisively.”

Ms Nandy added that she had spoken to the BBC chair in the past week “to convey these points in the interests of the public”.

The BBC has contacted Huw Edwards’ lawyer for comment.