Judgement Day for Huw Edwards: Disgraced BBC News star arrives at court to be sentenced for making indecent images of children aged seven and over
March 2023
Edwards announced the news of Her Majesty’s death to the nation in September 2022
Huw Edwards has signed a new three-year contract with the BBC after winning praise for his reporting on the Queen’s death.
That came after he was spotted at the offices of the BBC’s biggest radio rival, Global, in August 2022. The News at Ten veteran admitted he was ‘thinking about his future’ at the time.
In June of that year he received the award for best live event at the Tric Awards, for being one of the reporters covering the late Queen’s state funeral. In February he received the special recognition award at the Broadcast Awards.
April 2023
Police were contacted but ‘no criminal offence was established’.
May 6, 2023
Edwards presents coverage of King Charles’ coronation during the BBC’s broadcast of this historic event.
May 18, 2023
A relative of the young man, who was 17 at the time, personally complained about the behaviour of a BBC presenter.
May 19, 2023
A complainant contacted the BBC via the Public Services team for 29 minutes, after which the details were passed on to the Corporate Investigations Team.
The relative is said to have asked the broadcaster to stop sending money to the relative.
The Corporate Investigations Team concluded that the complaint did not allege criminality, but that further investigation was required.
The researchers email the complainant to get more information, but receive no response.
June 6, 2023
As there is no response to the email, the Corporate Investigations Team attempts to call the complainant, but the call is not disconnected.
However, The Sun later reported that the family stated that no one from the company called them for a proper interview after they filed a complaint.
According to the BBC, no further attempts were made to contact the family after this date, but the case ‘remained open’.
July 5, 2023
Edwards is last seen on screen before the scandal becomes public, when he reports on King Charles’ visit to Scotland
Huw Edwards appears for the last time on the BBC, reporting on King Charles’ visit to Scotland.
July 6, 2023
The Sun informs the BBC’s press office about the allegations against the star presenter.
The BBC is setting up an ‘incident management group’ of top executives after new allegations ‘of a different nature’ were made against the presenter.
According to the BBC, it is the first time that Mr Davie or his senior executives have been informed of the matter.
A senior manager conducts the initial interview with the speaker in question.
It has been agreed that he will not appear on air while the allegations are being investigated.
July 7, 2023
The Sun published an exclusive article claiming that a BBC presenter, who was not named at the time, paid a total of £35,000 for sexual content to someone from the time they were 17.
But a lawyer acting for the young man told The Sun that evening there was “no truth” to the claims.
The BBC said it would investigate and contacted the Metropolitan Police.
July 8, 2023
The complainant sends the BBC ‘material related to the complaint’.
There has been a frenzy of speculation over the identity of the star, with Gary Lineker, Jeremy Vine, Rylan Clark and Nicky Campbell all feeling obliged to deny that they were the man in question.
July 9, 2023
A fictionalized version of a reported Instagram message exchange between Edwards and a teenager
The BBC confirms that a male presenter has been suspended.
According to The Sun, the presenter allegedly called the young man twice and begged him to call his mother to stop the investigation.
July 10, 2023
Representatives from the BBC and detectives from the Metropolitan Police meet in the morning to find out whether any crimes have been committed.
The youth claims through a lawyer that the allegations are “nonsense.”
The Sun responded by saying that ‘a story had appeared about two very concerned parents who complained to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child’.
The parents stood by their story to the Sun, with the stepfather quoted in a story as saying the allegations were originally presented to the BBC for “an hour”.
July 11, 2023
Director General Tim Davie sends an internal email to staff reiterating that the BBC takes the allegations ‘extremely seriously’
BBC director Tim Davie defends the delay in the conversation with the BBC presenter.
But the BBC admits there were “lessons to be learned”, prompting one boss to review the protocols.
In the afternoon, new claims emerged from the BBC that the presenter had sent threatening messages to a second youth.
It is alleged that they met on a dating app, after which the conversation moved to other platforms, where the presenter revealed his identity.
He is then said to have sent a number of ‘threatening messages’ to the young man, which the BBC has seen.
According to The Sun, the star is also said to have broken lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old stranger through a dating website.
July 12, 2023
Huw Edwards pictured with his wife Vicky Find in South London in 2018. She has since split from the former broadcaster in the wake of his recent scandals
Huw Edwards is presented by his wife Vicky Flind.
She said he “suffered from serious mental health problems.”
The shocking revelation came moments after police said they would take “no further action” in the case.
But BBC boss Davie sent an email to staff telling them the internal investigation would continue even though police were no longer involved.
The BBC has reported new allegations from two current junior staff members and a former staff member who claim they received messages that made them feel uncomfortable.
July 12, 2023
Mr Davie called for a second review of the BBC’s complaints protocols after it emerged the family had only been contacted twice by the broadcaster despite the seriousness of the allegations.
November 8, 2023
Edwards is arrested, but tells no one.
A shocked former colleague and friend later told MailOnline: ‘Huw kept his arrest a complete secret.’
They added: ‘It turns out he was arrested four months later and no one knew. I had no idea until he was charged.’
February 27, 2024
The BBC apologised to the young man’s family, who had complained about him two months before Edwards was suspended.
An independent report by Deloitte is published into the BBC’s complaints handling procedure
The government-funded broadcaster acknowledged there were “deficiencies” in the way it had handled the case when it reviewed its complaints procedures.
April 2024
Edwards sought refuge in his beloved Wales and was comforted in Carmarthenshire by his mother Aerona.
April 22, 2024
Edwards resigns from the BBC.
Broadcasting Director Stewart Purvis CBE said there was “relief across the BBC” that the “extremely damaging saga” had been resolved.
He added that Edwards’ “leaving the BBC” would be seen as “quite a successful outcome” for the broadcaster.
June 26, 2024
Edwards is charged with possession of indecent images of children.
The BBC interrupted reporting of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ statement to the House of Commons and announced the latest news on July 29.
According to the indictment, he was accused of having six Category A photos, 12 Category B photos and 19 Category C photos on WhatsApp.
July 23, 2024
The BBC’s annual report shows Edwards earned between £475,000 and £479,999 in the year 2023/24 for 160 days presenting, BBC One news specials, election specials and other television programmes.
This salary is higher than in 2022/23, when he earned between £435,000 and £439,999 for 180 days presenting on BBC One and news specials.
This is despite the fact that he was absent from the screen from the moment the story first broke in July last year until his departure nine months later in April 2024.
But he remained on the payroll during his suspension, as is normal at the BBC, and he suffered serious mental health problems and was hospitalised.
The BBC confirmed upon his departure that he had not received a salary and that he left ‘on the basis of medical advice from his doctors’.
Chief executive Tim Davie defended the salaries and pay rise, confirming there was “no settlement payment”. He also said he would not comment on whether he had spoken to Edwards since his resignation.
July 31, 2024
Edwards remained silent as he left the courthouse today, surrounded by the press
Edwards pleads guilty to making 41 indecent images of children – and faces jail time.
The newsreader admitted to keeping seven category ‘A’ images of the very worst kind on his phone after receiving them from a paedophile via WhatsApp.
The sickening child pornography images showed young people aged between seven and 14, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
He remained emotionless as he pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, between December 2020 and August 2022.
His confession ends the former news star’s glittering career, which lasted forty years.
September 16, 2024
Edwards will most likely be convicted. He could face up to 10 years in prison.
