Huw Edwards won't be jailed – gets suspended sentence for child abuse images
Huw Edwards has been sentenced for child sex abuse imagery offences.
Huw Edwards will not serve jail time for child abuse images following his sentencing this morning (Monday 16th September).
The former BBC newsreader has been given six months' imprisonment suspended for two years and is required to complete a sex offender programme.
Edwards will also be placed on the sex offenders register for seven years. This means he will need to notify police of his whereabouts.
In a statement (via BBC News), the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Accessing indecent images of children perpetuates the sexual exploitation of them, which has deep, long-lasting trauma for these victims.
"The CPS and Metropolitan Police were able to prove that Edwards was receiving illegal images and videos involving children via WhatsApp.
"This prosecution sends a clear message that the CPS, working alongside the police, will work to bring to justice those who seek to exploit children, wherever that abuse takes place."
A BBC spokesperson said following Edwards's sentencing: "We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him."
A custody image of Edwards has also been released by the Metropolitan Police. It was taken after Edwards was arrested in November.
News that Edwards had been charged was made public in July, three months after he resigned from the BBC in April. He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children on 31st July, relating to activity between December 2020 and April 2022.
Edwards was charged with having six category A images on a phone as well as 12 category B pictures and 19 category C pictures.
At the time of his resignation, he was the BBC's highest-earning newsreader. It was recently revealed that he was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 in the 2023-24 financial year, a salary that made him the BBC's third-highest-paid presenter overall.
After he pleaded guilty to indecent child images charges, BBC chair Samir Shah claimed in a letter to BBC staff that Edwards had "behaved in bad faith" by continuing to collect his salary until his resignation in April, while fully aware that he planned to plead guilty to the charges.
The BBC requested that Edwards return more than £200,000 of salary, and director general Tim Davie has said "discussions are under way" regarding this, but added that Edwards has not yet returned the money.
