Former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to having 41 indecent images of children on the messaging app WhatsApp, according to PA Media.
Edwards appeared before London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, with PA reporting that the alleged offenses were committed between December 2020 and August 2021.
The court heard that Edwards engaged in online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp who sent him 377 sexual images, 41 of which were indecent images of children. All charges were in relation to images of children under the age of 18.
The veteran journalist arrived at court wearing a dark suit, blue tie and sunglasses. The 62-year-old entered his pleas at the start of the hearing, and “stared into the distance” as the prosecutor laid out the case against him.
The court heard that seven of the illegal images were classified as category A, the most severe classification of indecent images of children under English law. Twelve of the images were category B and a further 22 images were category C.
The court heard that Edwards told a man on WhatsApp not to send him underage images after the man asked if the images he was sending were too young. The final indecent image was sent in August 2021, involving a category A video of a young boy.
No more illegal images were sent after that message, the court heard, but the pair were said to continue exchanging legal pornographic images until April 2022.
Speaking in Edwards’ defense, his barrister Philip Evans said, “there’s no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has… in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort.”
Edwards on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the offense of “making indecent images of children.” According to guidance from the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the term “making” can have a wide legal definition, including downloading an image from a website or being sent an image via social media, even if unsolicited or part of a group.
“Mr. Edwards did not keep any images, did not send any to anyone else and did not and has not sought similar images from anywhere else,” Evans said.
In a statement later Wednesday, the BBC said it was aware Edwards had been arrested in November 2023 – five months before he left the corporation – on suspicion of “serious offences,” however no charges had been brought against him at that point. The statement continued that Edwards would have been immediately dismissed by the BBC if he had been charged at any point during his employment.
The corporation added it was “shocked” to hear the details that had emerged in court on Wednesday.
On Monday, London’s Metropolitan Police said it had charged Edwards last month. He was arrested in November last year, police revealed.
The Metropolitan Police previously outlined the allegations “did not form part of the matter which was considered by police in July 2023. They were investigated separately as a standalone case.”
Edwards was known for presenting the BBC’s flagship News at Ten program — equivalent to the anchor of a network evening news program in the US. He had also been the BBC’s anchor for coverage of major state events such as royal weddings and funerals.
He stepped down from his role at the BBC in late April after a 40-year career, during which he became one of the most recognized faces in British television news.
The BBC’s annual report, published last week, revealed that Edwards was paid between £475,000 ($610,000) and £479,999 ($616,000) in the period from April 2023 to March 2024. He was the BBC’s third highest-paid employee in that time.
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