Huw Edwards paid a paedophile over £1,000 for pictures and called the photos “astonishing”

September 16, 2024, 11:04 | Updated: September 16, 2024, 11:06

Disgraced former BBC presenter Huw Edwards paid a paedophile more than £1,000 for child abuse images he described as “unbelievable”, a court heard before sentencing.

Edwards is due to be sentenced at Westminster Magistrates Court for accessing indecent images of children as young as seven years old.

The court heard that in 2018, Edwards was approached by paedophile Alex Williams and began exchanging messages online and also having a telephone conversation.

Williams accessed images on the dark web and then sent them to Edwards.

Edwards paid him between £1,000 and £1,500 for the paintings, which Williams, who was 19 at the start of the relationship, used to finance his studies.

Most of the images were legal and showed young-looking adult men, but a significant number featured children.

In December 2020, Williams said he had a file of pictures and videos of a special person.

Edwards asked who the person was and was sent three pictures of children between the ages of 14 and 16. Williams asked if Edwards wanted the full file of about 30 pictures, to which the sender replied “yes xxx”.

About half of these were Category C offensive images.

Williams then sent ten more attachments. Half of them were Category B moving images. The last image was Category A – the most serious.

After all the hot videos, Williams demanded a “Christmas present,” it was said in court.

Prosecutor Ian Hope said the convicted paedophile offered to send 12 videos in December 2020 and the then BBC presenter replied that he could not see the last batch but “the others were incredible”.

The court heard that a new link contained a category C image of a child aged approximately 12 to 14 and a category A image. “Forty-five minutes later, Alex Williams again asks for 'a Christmas present after all the hot videos' and Mr Edwards immediately replies 'what do you need?'” the prosecutor continued.

“Alex Williams says he wants a pair of Air Force 1 trainers which cost around £100 and Mr Edwards offers to send him £200.”

The court was told that Huw Edwards did not respond after Williams sent him a sex video of children aged approximately seven to nine and 11 to 13.

Mr Hope said: “On 10 February 2021, a Category A video was sent which is notable because the age of one of the children involved was significantly younger than in the other images sent – it showed several acts of penetration between two children aged approximately seven to nine and eleven to 13 respectively.

“There was no direct response from Mr. Edwards to this video other than marking it as 'read.'

“One week later… several attachments were sent, including two Category B videos and four Category C still images containing indecent images of children.

On February 19, 2021, Alex Williams asked, “Is the stuff I’m sending too young for you?”

“The next response from Mr. Edwards is dated February 22, 2021 and states: 'Do not send minors.'”

Huw Edwards goes to court

Edwards appeared in court after admitting three charges that he “took” indecent photographs after Williams sent him the images.

He pleaded guilty in July.

Edwards arrived at court this morning wearing a cardigan and carrying a holdall, as protesters stood outside the court holding placards reading “Protect our children, hold the BBC to account”.

As he entered Westminster Magistrates' Court, the veteran broadcaster looked sternly at the photographers stationed near the entrance.

Seven of the indecent images Williams shared with Edwards were of an extremely serious nature.

In these images, the estimated age of most of the children is between 13 and 15 years old, but one was between seven and nine years old.

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Williams was charged in connection with his WhatsApp chat with Edwards and, following an investigation by South Wales Police, was found guilty of seven offences – he received a 12-month suspended sentence.

The last indecent image broadcast was a Category A film featuring a young boy in August 2021. The convicted paedophile told the news anchor that the child “looked quite young” and that he had other images that were illegal.

Overall, the charges cover a period between December 2020 and August 2021.

The BBC admitted it was aware of the former television presenter's arrest in November but continued to employ him for about five months until he left the corporation on medical advice.

Edwards was ordered to repay the £200,000 salary he has received since his arrest.

BBC director Tim Davie said the money must be repaid and the corporation would “explore” legal action if Edwards refused.

Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah were questioned by the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee last Wednesday.

Referring to the disgraced presenter's pay, Mr Davie said: “We have made the formal request and I cannot go into too much detail. Discussions are ongoing but I have no further news other than that the BBC's position is clear, the money should be repaid and we have made the request.”

Asked if he had set a deadline, he said: “I don't think we have set a deadline… but we expect to make progress and get a response.”

Mr Shah told the same committee that Edwards had “damaged” the BBC’s reputation.

He said: “There is nothing more important than the public's trust in the BBC and we are the custodians of that trust. What Huw Edwards has done has damaged the reputation and trust in the BBC, so we take this very seriously indeed.”

“I have to say it was a shock when it was announced at the indictment that he had led a double life.

“On the surface, he was a trustworthy news anchor, but secretly he was this person who did the most horrific things. I mean, we should never forget the victims.”

He added that he “knew” him as he had been in charge of current affairs at the BBC decades ago, and said other staff who had worked with him felt “angry and betrayed” by Edwards.

The relevant images range from the most serious category, known as Category A, to the least serious category, known as Category C.

These include seven images in category A, twelve images in category B and 22 images in category C.

The Sentencing Council, a public body funded by the Ministry of Justice, defines Category A images as those that involve penetrative sexual acts, sexual acts with an animal or sadism.

Category B includes images that depict sexual acts without penetration, while Category C includes offensive images that do not fall into either Category A or Category B.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the term “creating” an indecent image is interpreted very broadly by the courts.

This can range from opening an email attachment containing an image to accessing pornographic websites that display indecent photos of children via an automatic “pop-up” mechanism.

In Edwards' case, he received the illegal images as part of a WhatsApp conversation.

In Edwards' defence, his barrister Philip Evans KC said his client did not “create” the images “in the conventional sense of the word”.

The maximum penalty for making an indecent image of a child is ten years in prison.

The sentencing guidelines stipulate a prison sentence of 12 months for possession of a Category A image, with the range being from 26 weeks to three years.

The starting point is 26 weeks for a picture in category B, and a joint commission for category C.

There are several defenses to this charge, including that the person has not seen the images and has no reason to believe the images are indecent, that there is a legitimate reason for possessing the images, or that the images were sent unsolicited and were not retained for an unreasonable period of time.

Among other things, Edwards considered aggravating circumstances that the images were moving images and the young age of the child, who was probably between seven and nine years old in two Category A images.

Mitigating circumstances include Edward's early guilty plea, his previous good character, his mental health problems and his remorse.

During his four decades with the corporation, Edwards was part of the broadcast teams that led coverage of historic events, including the funeral of the late Queen in 2022 and most recently the Coronation of the King in May 2023.

Edwards also announced the late Queen’s death on the BBC in September 2022.