Huw Edwards handed six month suspended sentence for child abuse image offences

Huw Edwards has been given a six month suspended sentence for possessing indecent images of children.

The disgraced BBC presenter was sentenced today at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty on July 31 to three charges of making indecent images of children.

Edwards will also be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years and will undergo a sex offenders’ treatment programme, as well as 25 rehabilitation sessions. He must also pay £3,128 in costs and a victim surcharge.

He admitted to having 41 illegal images, which were sent to him by the convicted paedophile Alex Williams, seven of which being of the most serious type. Edwards had paid Williams up to £1,500 for the images, most of which were of adult men, alongside the 41 which were illegal. Two reportedly showed a child aged between about seven and nine. The offences took place between December 2020 and August 2021.

The judge said there was no evidence that Edwards did anything more with the images Williams sent him. The court heard that he had not directly paid for the images, but Williams inferred he wished to receive gifts and presents after sending them, and that Edwards had sent money, described by the prosecution as amounting to around £1,000 to £1,500.

Edwards had told Williams not to send images of people who were underage, but only at a later stage, the judge said, adding “this is not a case where, despite protestation not to, nonetheless the images were still sent”.

The judge noted that the former broadcaster’s “long-earned reputation” was now “in tatters”. Nonetheless, he found that Edwards displayed genuine remorse and his decision making at the time of the offences may have been impacted by his mental health.

He added that Edwards did not pose a risk to the public or children and an immediate custodial sentence was not necessary because the evidence showed he could be rehabilitated.

Following the sentencing, a BBC spokesperson said: “We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”

Last month, the BBC asked Edwards to return his salary. He continued to earn his salary from the BBC for five months after being arrested, having not resigned until the end of April on doctors’ advice.

Edwards was reportedly the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader, having covered some of the biggest global news stories of the last three decades. Some of these events included the inauguration of Barack Obama, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

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