17 September 2024, 09:16 | Updated: 17 September 2024, 09:22
Picture:
Alamy
The ‘devastated’ mother of a boy ‘groomed’ by television presenter Huw Edwards has hit out after the star was spared jail over the possession of child abuse images.
Edwards, 63, was given six months suspended for two years during the sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, having after pleading guilty to “making” indecent photographs.
However, the newsreader was spared jail by a judge on Monday, despite admitting to paying a paedophile in the region of £1,500 for child sexual abuse images.
The presenter, who was sent the images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp, had 41 indecent photographs of children on the device.
The mother of a teen ‘groomed’ by the star in a separate case has now hit out following the verdict, revealing her fears over other victims amid claims the star’s phone and laptop were never examined.
“I’m devastated Edwards hasn’t gone to prison for the things he did. He’s exploited young children for his own sick ends and should have been jailed,” she said.
It’s been revealed Edwards paid her son £35,000 for sexually explicit pictures – allegations separate to the child abuse offences for which he was sentenced.
Picture:
Alamy
“People have been jailed for years for rioting — yet paedophiles sharing pictures of young children being sexually abused somehow doesn’t warrant the same punishment?” she told The Sun on Monday.
Hitting out at police over the lack of action in regard to searching electronic devices, the mother said: “It’s shocking that police didn’t recover the phone he was using to receive the child abuse images.
“It makes me think, how many more victims are there?”
Read more: Huw Edwards spared jail after paying paedophile up to £1,500 for child abuse images
Edwards will also be forced to attend 25 sessions of a sex offender programme as part of his sentencing, as well as sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
The disgraced star was also told to pay £3,128 in costs and a victim surcharge.
It follows widespread uproar over the star’s £200,000 salary, after the BBC’s director general said “discussions are under way” about the possibility of claiming back the money, which the star is yet to return despite being asked.
Picture:
CPS
Speaking earlier this month at a House of Lords committee, Tim Davie said: “We’ve made the formal request and I can’t go into too much detail but discussions are under way.
“The money should be returned and we made the request.”
The charge of “making” indecent images of children relates to the possession of images, rather than creating the abuse images as the term suggests.
The Crown Persecution Service guidelines define it as “to cause to exist, to produce by action, to bring about” indecent images.”
The images found on Edwards’ device included seven category A images – defined as the most serious classification of indecent images.
Two were said to involve a child aged between seven and nine-years-old.
Picture:
Alamy
The stepfather of the boy ‘groomed’ by Edwards has now written to his local MP demanding to meet the BBC’s director general in person following the verdict.
He said: “The BBC should have put him on suspension without pay from day one. The police should have done something a lot quicker. They missed a chance to look at his phone and laptop then.”
A mugshot released following the sentencing depicted the gaunt presenter staring hollowly into the camera.
After his sentence was read out by a judge on Monday, the disgraced star exited the court alongside his legal team, before stepping into a chauffeur driven black Mercedes.