Huw Edwards, until last year the lead presenter of the BBC’s News at Ten, this week pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to possessing indecent images of children.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had informed the BBC of Edwards’s arrest last November. He had been charged this June. This raises the question: why did this only become public knowledge on Monday when the case appeared in the court listings?
The fact that a person faces criminal charges is almost invariably a matter of public record. The treatment that Edwards received is very different from that of most facing serious criminal claims. As recently as last October, Surrey Police revealed that they had arrested a sitting MP on rape allegations. That person has not so far been charged.
There have been instances when the authorities’ judgment has been wide of the mark. In 2015 the Met Police announced that they were investigating a former home secretary on child abuse allegations that proved entirely false. In 2014 the BBC used a helicopter to film a police raid – in an investigation of claims that proved baseless – on the home of Cliff Richard, after having been informed of the police’s plans in advance. But now it appears the pendulum has swung too far the other way.
Why were the charges brought against Edwards treated so very differently by the CPS? It has been stated that concerns over Edwards’s mental health caused the prosecutors, the police and his former employer to refrain from publicising the circumstances. This has caused surprise among legal experts. Such considerations rarely feature in such decisions about less prominent individuals. A full explanation is urgently required.