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Household name BBC presenter 'paid teenager for sexually explicit photos'

The broadcaster has reportedly launched an investigation after allegations about the well-known star were made in May. The man is said to have paid the youth more than £35,000 since 2020.

The BBC has said it takes "any allegations very seriously" following claims that one of its male presenters paid a teenager more than £35,000 for sexually explicit photos.

The unnamed "household name" allegedly first requested images from the youth when they were aged 17 back in 2020 and has made a series of payments over the years, according to The Sun.

It said the BBC has now launched an investigation and taken the star off-air after the family made a complaint on 19 May.

No one involved has been named.

The mother of the youth, now aged 20, told the newspaper that she had seen bank account statements showing payments totalling more than £35,000 - including one lump sum of £5,000.

She claimed the presenter requested "performances" and that her offspring had used the cash to fund an addiction to crack cocaine - which had "destroyed" their life.

"All I want is for this man to stop paying my child for sexual pictures and stop him funding my child's drug habit," she told The Sun.

In a statement, a BBC spokesperson said: "We treat any allegations very seriously, and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them.

"As part of that, if we receive information that requires further investigation or examination, we will take steps to do this.

"That includes actively attempting to speak to those who have contacted us in order to seek further detail and understanding of the situation."

They added: "If we get no reply to our attempts or receive no further contact that can limit our ability to progress things, but it does not mean our enquiries stop.

"If, at any point, new information comes to light or is provided - including via newspapers - this will be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes."

dutchman wrote:I'll hazard a guess it's someone I've never even heard of?

BBC presenter facing sex photo claims is Huw Edwards, BBC says, citing his wife

One of Britain's leading news anchors, Huw Edwards, was named by his wife on Wednesday as being the BBC presenter facing allegations he paid a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos, the broadcaster reported.

Edwards announced the death of Queen Elizabeth to the nation in September and has led coverage of the biggest events in Britain since the turn of the century, including elections, royal weddings and the 2012 Olympics.

The BBC has been rocked in recent days by a report in the Sun newspaper that one of its leading presenters had paid a young person 35,000 pounds ($45,000) for explicit photos over three years, beginning when the person was 17.

It suspended the presenter but did not name him. Several BBC stars had taken to social media to say they were not involved after speculation swirled online.

"Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years," his wife, Vicky Flind said, according to the BBC.

"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."

Flind said she hoped the statement would bring an end to media speculation which had impacted Edwards' BBC colleagues.

"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published," she said.

London's Metropolitan Police said earlier on Wednesday it had concluded its assessment into the allegations and found there was no indication a criminal offence had been committed.

Huw Edwards leaves BBC on medical advice



TV news presenter Huw Edwards has resigned from the BBC on "medical advice", the corporation has said.

The broadcaster has been off air since last July following newspaper reports claiming he paid a young person for sexually explicit images.

He was the BBC's most high-profile news anchor, often chosen to front coverage of major national events.

"Huw Edwards has today resigned and left the BBC," a short statement said on Monday.

"After 40 years of service, Huw has explained that his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors.

"The BBC has accepted his resignation which it believes will allow all parties to move forward. We don't believe it appropriate to comment further."
No police action

His departure comes nine months after his wife said he had been admitted to hospital with "serious mental health issues".

Police did not take action against him, saying there was no evidence that a criminal offence had been committed.

The allegations arose when the Sun newspaper claimed an unnamed BBC presenter had paid a young person for explicit photos.

The paper's source was the mother and step-father of the young person, but a letter issued on the young person's behalf by a lawyer described their account as "rubbish".

The paper and the BBC also reported several further claims of inappropriate behaviour, and the BBC launched an internal investigation.

On Monday, the mother of the young person told The Sun her family had been suffering "immensely for nearly a year".

"In [Edwards] resigning we are worried we won't get the answers we so desperately need," she added.

"If Huw has been found to have done something wrong no action can be taken against him."

After days of speculation about the presenter's identity, Edwards' wife Vicky Flind publicly named him last July.

Edwards, 62, has not publicly commented. He had been off air since July.

The normal policy is that an employee receives full pay while suspended. He was the corporation's highest-paid newsreader, receiving between £435,000 and £439,999 in the year 2022/2023.

The BBC has confirmed that Edwards has not been paid off as part of his departure.

The Welsh presenter joined BBC News as a trainee in 1984, and in 2003 became one of the main presenters on BBC One's Ten O'Clock News, widely seen as the corporation's flagship bulletin.

He also presented and commentated on events like general elections and royal weddings and funerals, and announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II to the nation in 2022.

Huw Edwards given suspended sentence for accessing indecent images of children



The former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been given a six-month suspended prison sentence, completing an extraordinary fall from grace after admitting accessing indecent photographs of children as young as seven.

Edwards, 63, who spent four decades at the BBC, looked pale and tired in the dock at Westminster magistrates court as the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, handed down the sentence.

Edwards, who nodded at various points during the sentencing remarks, was told that he had been “perhaps the most recognised newsreader/journalist in the UK” but that his “long-earned reputation is in tatters”.

His six-month prison sentence will be suspended for two years and he will be obliged to attend a 40-day programme designed to stop him offending again. He pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children after he was sent 41 illegal images by Alex Williams, a convicted paedophile.

Edwards had been involved in an online chat with Williams, then 19, on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, during which he sent the younger man hundreds of pounds “apparently off the back of [him] sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards”.

Edwards received 377 sexual images from Williams, including 41 indecent images of children, of which seven were category A (the worst), 12 were category B and 22, category C.

In his opening statement at the hearing, the prosecutor Ian Hope said: “It is clear from the face of the WhatsApp chat recovered that a deal of the chat between Alex Williams and Mr Edwards was sexual in nature.

“It is also clear that Mr Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money – low hundreds of pounds on an occasional basis – to Alex Williams, which Mr Williams directly asked for on several occasions, as gifts or presents, apparently off the back of sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards, about which images they chatted.

As he handed down the sentence, the chief magistrate said he accepted evidence that Edwards had no recollection of viewing the indecent images due to his mental health issues at the time of the offences.

The court heard from a forensic psychosexual therapist that there was a “tangible risk” of suicide as Edwards, who is currently an inpatient at the private Nightingale mental health hospital in London, “considers that his family situation may be improved if he was not alive”.

The report went on to claim that social media had allowed Edwards, who had “managed” his sexual attraction to men since 1994, to “re-engage” with those desires and “boost his fragile self-esteem”.

The court heard that the phone used by Edwards to communicate with Williams had never been recovered