Huw Edwards named as BBC presenter at centre of allegations
His wife confirms in a statement that he is currently in hospital for treatment for "serious mental health issues".
Huw Edwards has been named as the BBC presenter who is facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images.
The 61-year-old Welsh presenter has been with the BBC in some capacity since 1984 and is known for his coverage of state events, including this year’s Coronation of King Charles III and Camilla. He was also the lead presenter for the coverage of the 2019 General Election.
The allegations first emerged on Saturday in The Sun newspaper. Edwards is currently suspended from the BBC.
His wife, Vicky Flind, made a statement on his behalf, explaining that the newsreader is currently in hospital for treatment for "serious mental health issues".
The statement read as follows: "In light of the recent reporting regarding the 'BBC Presenter' I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family. I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.
"Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.
"The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.
"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published. To be clear, Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.
"In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected. I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."
The statement emerged shortly after the Met Police confirmed there is no evidence that Edwards committed a criminal offence, and closed its enquiries into it.
Met Police said, via The Guardian: "Detectives from the Met’s specialist crime command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.
"In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family, both via another police force. There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.
"We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time.
“Should evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues be identified at any point we would expect matters to be referred to the relevant police force.”
The BBC added: “We have seen the statement from the police confirming they have completed their assessment and are not taking further action. We’re grateful to them for completing this work at speed.
“The police had previously asked us to pause our fact finding investigations and we will now move forward with that work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts, whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved.”
For help and support with mental health, please visit www.mind.org.uk/ or https://www.samaritans.org/, or contact Samaritans' 24-hour helpline on 116 123.
