LONDON (Reuters) -Former British TV presenter Huw Edwards, the long-time face of the BBC’s flagship news programme, was given a suspended sentence at a London court on Monday after admitting making indecent images of children.
Monday’s sentencing sealed a fall from grace for Edwards, a household name in Britain for around two decades who as the BBC’s leading news anchor announced the death of Queen Elizabeth to the nation in 2022.
Edwards, 63, pleaded guilty in July to three charges of making indecent images of children, relating to 41 illegal images he was sent via WhatsApp – including two pornographic videos of a child aged between seven and nine-years-old.
Judge Paul Goldspring sentenced Edwards to six months in prison suspended for two years, meaning Edwards will not go to jail unless he commits another criminal offence in that time.
Seven of the illegal images were of the most serious category, prosecutor Ian Hope said, and both of those videos were marked as “read” on WhatsApp. In response to the second video, Edwards asked the man sending them: “Any more?”
The offence of making indecent images of children relates to the images that were sent to Edwards. Prosecutors did not allege Edwards had literally made the images in question.
His lawyer Philip Evans said Edwards was at the time of the offending suffering with his mental and physical health and he no memory of actually viewing any particular images.
“He didn’t use them for any personal gratification and he didn’t gain any gratification from those indecent images,” Evans said.
Edwards’ was “profoundly sorry,” he added.
“He recognises the repugnant nature of such indecent images and the hurt that is done to those who appear in such images.”
Claire Brinton of the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement: “Accessing indecent images of children perpetuates the sexual exploitation of them, which has deep, long-lasting trauma for these victims.”
The judge said that Edwards’ reputation was now “in tatters”, but that the personal impact on Edwards was “the natural consequence of your behaviour which you brought on yourself”.
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.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Angus MacSwan)
