BBC
Huw Edwards mural painted over after disgraced Beeb anchor admits indecent images charges
A mural depicting Huw Edwards has been covered up as he awaits sentencing for possessing indecent images of children.
The 62-year-old ex-broadcaster disappeared from Beeb airwaves in July last year and retired “on medical grounds” in April, having remained on full pay for nearly a year, after it was first alleged he paid a young person £35,000 for inappropriate images. Edwards received a £40,000 pay rise in the last financial year, despite being off air for the majority of the contract.
Yesterday, in an unrelated case, he pled guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court to three counts of making indecent images of children.
The court was informed that he participated in a WhatsApp conversation with an adult male starting in December 2020, during which he received a total of 377 sexual images, including 41 that were indecent images of children.
Edwards maintained contact with this individual until April 2022, with the last indecent image shared in August 2021. He was arrested in November and charged last month, with sentencing scheduled for September 16.
The mural, which was revealed in 2023, was part of a larger artwork located in Edwards’ hometown of Llangennech, Carmarthenshire. Artist Steve Jenkins, 50, painted over the mural on Tuesday after the news of Edwards’ charges became public.
“It’s such a shame to have to do it but charges like that are disgraceful,” he said.
Huw Edwards – BBC News 1980s
The corporation also confirmed that they knew in November that Edwards had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences, but he wasn’t sacked over the ‘Abhorrent behaviour’ as he hadn’t been at that time charged. Beeb bosses noted he would have been dismissed had he been charged while still employed by the BBC. On full pay for almost a year Edwards only resigned from his BBC News at Six and News at Ten roles in April.
The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has been in discussions with the BBC over the handling of yet another pervert employed by the broadcaster in a long line of names including Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall and infamous Jimmy Savile.
BBC director general Tim Davie has defended the decision not to sack Edwards, despite knowing the presenter had been arrested in November; Davie told BBC News the corporation “knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.”
He went on to add, “We were very shocked [by the allegations]. No-one knew about the specifics of what we heard over the last few days, which have been deeply disturbing.” On why Edwards wasn’t given his P45 in November the Beeb boss stated to BBC News, “the police came to us and said they need to do their work in total confidence, [and said], ‘please keep this confidential’.
“We thought long and hard about this. This wasn’t a kneejerk decision. When you think about this in terms of precedent, people do get arrested, and then we’ve had situations where [there are] no charges, and there’s nothing there to be followed up on.”
Earlier this week the corporation noted no one at BBC News was aware of the allegations. However, yesterday they admitted this wasn’t entirely true and the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness was briefed on the situation with her then biggest presenting name.
The disgraced BBC personality was, until last year, one of their biggest stars
