Neighbours of the paedophile who sold child abuse images to Huw Edwards say both men should have been jailed for their ‘depraved’ crimes

Neighbours of Alex Williams, the paedophile who sold child pornography to Huw Edwards, said both men should have been locked up for their “depraved” crimes.

Edwards, 63, was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday after admitting possessing 41 indecent images of children sent to him by Williams via WhatsApp.

Among the photos were seven images in Category A, the most serious classification, two of which showed a child between the ages of seven and nine.

A mother of two young children who lives near where Williams was living at the time of his arrest said: “It's disgusting, they should both be behind bars.”

“What they did, buying and selling images of innocent children, is absolutely abhorrent. Anything less than a prison sentence is wrong.”

Edwards, 63, was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday after admitting possessing 41 indecent images of children sent to him by a paedophile.

Disgraced BBC News presenter Edwards escaped a prison sentence and was – to the annoyance of many – sentenced to six months' probation.

He sent hundreds of pounds to Williams, who in return sent him porn, some of which he described as “amazing”.

Williams, a 25-year-old university graduate, was living with his mother and stepfather in a council housing property in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, at the time of his arrest.

He later pleaded guilty to seven counts of possession and distribution of indecent substances, but was given a twelve-month suspended sentence.

Neighbours said they had not seen Williams at his mother's flat since it was revealed that he had sold child pornography to the BBC newsreader.

A second mother who lives in the area said: “I knew Edwards would get away. They couldn't lock him up if they didn't lock Williams up for selling him the paintings. They're both just as corrupt as each other.”

“What worries me is that they were released from prison because not as many images were found compared to other paedophiles.”

When asked if he wanted to have “indecent images and videos” of a person described as young, Edwards told Williams, “Go ahead.”

The former news anchor also wrote “yes xxx” when asked by the convicted paedophile if he wanted sexual images of a person “identified as being between 14 and 16 years old.”

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on Monday that when asked if he wanted a series of indecent images of children, Huw Edwards replied “yes xxx” (note: this is not the actual text message exchange).

It was also reported that Edwards told Williams that ages “can be deceiving” when he was told that one of the people in a picture “looked pretty young” before asking him if he had “any more.” (Note: This is not the actual text message exchange.)

Forensic artist's drawing by Elizabeth Cook showing former BBC presenter Huw Edwards in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court

He was also sent two pornographic videos of a child between the ages of seven and nine.

Edwards, who resigned from the BBC in April, was ordered to repay the £200,000 salary he had received since his arrest.

He has so far refused and will also keep his pension.

BBC staff said they were “warned” about Edwards' “thin-skinned” attitude when they started work – and said he should be put in prison for what he had done.

MailOnline revealed that there is great hostility towards him at the BBC, which has been rocked by yet another child sex scandal after Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris.

A BBC employee said: “He still hasn't paid back his salary and has once again dragged us through the mud.”

“Many at the BBC want him to pay for what he did. He exploited the system.”

A former colleague said: “Huw had great talent and a great presence, but was always very prickly and thin-skinned.”

And Zoe Lambourne, chief operating officer at child safety data institute Childlight, said the case was unfortunately far from unusual.

“We are in the grip of a hidden pandemic and an estimated 1.8 million Britons are involved in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children online,” she said.

“This public health emergency is too large for law enforcement to handle alone. But crucially, it can be prevented through collaborative action that always puts the safety of children first.”

The disgraced BBC news anchor made no comment as he entered the modern courthouse

Edwards made his way through the media fray before being driven away from court in a black Mercedes on July 31.

Edwards was previously the presenter of News at Ten and one of Britain's best-known newsreaders.

Rani Govender of the NSPCC added: “Online child sexual abuse has reached record levels and offenders like Edwards who facilitate these crimes should be in no doubt about the seriousness of the crimes and the impact on victims.”

“Companies must also take action by implementing technologies that can detect and stop the spread of child abuse images through their messaging services so that victims can be protected and perpetrators prosecuted.”

Lynn Perry of children's charity Barnardo's said: “Tens of thousands of children are sexually exploited or abused online every year.”

“We call on technology companies to take action to ensure that offensive material cannot be shared on their platforms.”

“When children are being abused and images of it are being shared online, they urgently need to receive specialist help – something that unfortunately is not available to many children across the country.”

Speaking to the Times, Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, commented on the different sentences between Edwards and the rioters: “One inevitably comes to the conclusion that we have a two-tier criminal justice system in which Islamophobia is punished more harshly than paedophilia.”