BBC staff admit ‘feeling sick’ after Huw Edwards’ ‘bombshell’ crimes revealed-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

The impact of Huw Edwards’ crimes on his former BBC colleagues has been revealed (Picture: AFP/Getty)

The impact of Huw Edwards’ ‘bombshell’ crimes on his former colleagues and BBC staff has been revealed.

The disgraced broadcaster, 62, admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children as young as seven in court in August.

He pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court  after convicted paedophile Alex Williams sent him illegal images on WhatsApp.

It was later revealed that the BBC knew of his arrest in November, on ‘suspicion of serious offences’, but continued employing him until April, when he resigned on medical advice.

His last BBC News appearance however was in July 2023, when it emerged an unnamed presenter had paid a ‘young person’ for sexually explicit images.

It’s now claimed that ‘many’ BBC staff knew the anonymous star was in fact Edwards, as he’d been taken off the presenting roster, but have been left in further shock at hearing of the true nature of his crimes.

According to the BBC’s Culture and Media Editor Katie Razzall, one BBC staffer said his crimes left them ‘feeling sick’ as another described it as a ‘bombshell’.

Edwards admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children as young as seven(Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

They told the broadcaster: ‘We were frozen watching those images of him wearing his sunglasses walking to court. Was it defiance? Was it shame? Nobody knows.

‘There’s upset and anger at what he’s done, the levels he’s fallen to, how it’s impacted the rest of us and what it’s done to the BBC.’

They added: ‘There have been so many twists and turns, it has felt like a blow every time another horror has been unveiled. It has felt unending.’

This comes after BBC content chief Charlotte Moore publicly condemned Edwards, calling him ‘the villain of the piece’.

She stated: ‘He’s clearly the villain of the piece, and the victims are those poor children.’

She also defended the BBC’s handling of the situation, insisting that the corporation ‘did everything with the evidence it had at the time.’

In recent months, Edwards has been stripped of charity roles as his crimes came to light, with the BBC also reporting that his now-deleted LinkedIn profile apparently stated last week that he is ‘available for no charge to charities and not-for-profit organisations’, raising eyebrows among his former colleagues, it’s said.

Edwards was the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and earned £475,000 and £479,999 from 2023 until 2024, a pay rise of £40,000 from the previous year due to ‘inflation.’ The amount he earned from November is around £200,000.

Last month, the court heard that Edwards had been involved in online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.

The bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period.

On February 2, 2021 the male asked whether what he was sending was too young, in response to which Edwards told him not to send any underage images, the court heard.

Edwards was the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and earned £475,000 and £479,999 from 2023 until 2024 (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)

The indecent images that were sent included seven category A, the worst, 12 category B, and 22 category C.

Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine, the court was told.

The final indecent image was sent in August 2021, a category A film featuring a young boy.

The man told Edwards that the boy was quite young-looking, and that he had more images which were illegal.

Edwards told him not to send any illegal images, the court was told.

No more were sent, and the pair continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022.

Edwards was bailed and will next appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 16.

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