Disgraced BBC news anchor Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, including images of children believed to be around seven years old.
The former presenter of BBC’s flagship “News at Ten” show and one of the most recognisable faces on British television hid his face behind dark sunglasses as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old veteran journalist, who retires from the BBC in April 2023 after 40 years, admitted possessing 41 indecent images, seven of which were category A, the most serious offence.
Category A images were mainly of children aged between 13 and 15, the court heard.
The married father-of-five, who was wearing a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and white shirt, also pleaded guilty to possessing 12 category B images and 22 category C images.
But prosecutors said there were two videos of young children, believed to be between 7 and 9 years old.
Edwards, who remained the state broadcaster’s highest-paid anchor after his ignominious resignation, gave his name, address and date of birth in a clear, loud voice ahead of the 26-minute hearing.
The court heard Edwards and another adult male, whose identity has not been released, exchanged messages on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.
During that time, Edwards received a total of 377 sexual images, including 41 indecent images of minors, most of which were sent within a two-month period.
In February 2021, the man asked Edwards if the minors in the images he sent him were too young, to which the disgraced news anchor replied that he shouldn’t send anything illegal.
The pair continued to exchange pornographic images until April 2022, the court heard.
Edwards’ lawyer, Philip Evans KC, said there was no evidence the former BBC presenter created or created the images.
Evans added that Edwards did not save or transmit the images on his device.
“There is no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards created any kind of imagery in the traditional sense,” he told the court on Wednesday.
“It is also important to remember in context that Mr Edwards’ equipment was seized and searched and nothing was found on that equipment.”
“The only thing the allegations are based on are images sent via WhatsApp chat,” he continued.
“Mr Edwards has not stored any of the images or sent them to anyone else and has not solicited and will not solicit similar images from anywhere else.”
British Royal Prosecutor’s OfficeHowever, the term “create” includes opening, accessing, downloading and saving content on your device.
This comes less than a week after the BBC published the story. Annual ReportThe salaries and earnings of the network’s top employees were revealed.
Edwards, the company’s top news anchor with an astounding annual salary of $616,000, received a huge pay increase of $51,000 last year despite being suspended for much of the year.
The Welsh anchor was exposed last year by his wife, Vicky Flind, as the mystery anchor who allegedly paid more than $45,000 to a teenage girl in exchange for sexually explicit photographs.
