Ex-BBC host pleads guilty to indecent child images charges

Former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of making indecent pictures of children.

The 62-year-old newsreader was a household name in Britain, having led coverage of elections, royal weddings and the 2012 London Olympic Games. He announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

However, he was suspended by the BBC in July 2023 over separate sexual misconduct claims. He later resigned for health reasons and had not been seen in public until Wednesday's court hearing.

The court heard that Edwards had received dozens of sexually explicit images of children over WhatsApp.

"These images appear to have been received with approval," prosecutor Ian Hope told the court.

What were the charges?

The crimes that Edwards plead guilty to occurred between December 2020 and August 2021

The court heard that an unnamed man contacted Edwards via WhatsApp and sent him 377 sexually explicit images, including 41 illegal photos and videos of children.

Seven of those images were classified as "category A," the most indecent category, where the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15.

Hope said that two of those seven files were pornographic videos of a child possibly aged between seven and nine years old.

Edwards' lawyer emphasized  said that the charges his client pleaded guilty related only to the images that were sent to him.

"There is no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has in any way made, in the traditional sense of the word, any images in any physical way or created any images of any sort," the lawyer said.

What sentence does Edwards face?

Edwards faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a minimum sentence of 12 months.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring released Edwards on conditional bail until his next hearing on September 16, when he could be sentenced.

The prosecution conceded that a suspended sentence might be appropriate if combined with a community order and a sex offender treatment program.

Nevertheless, the Crown Prosecution Service, which decides whether a case should go to court, emphasized the severity of the charges.

"Accessing indecent images of underage people perpetuates the sexual exploitation of children, which has deep, long-lasting trauma on these victims," said CPS prosecutor Claire Brinton said.

zc/wmr (Reuters, AFP, AP)