Watching Huw Edwards take his place in the dock at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning was a surreal experience.
The man who was once the BBC’s highest paid news anchor, earning a salary almost on par with the corporation’s director general Tim Davie, cut a pathetic, solitary figure behind the glass panels of the dock. His voice was impassive as he stated his name, age and partial address.
It was equally impassive when, to everyone’s surprise, Edwards pled guilty to all three counts of “making indecent images of children.” So shocked was I to hear his first guilty plea that my hands froze over my keyboard as I was furiously making notes of the proceedings, my ears straining to ensure I’d heard correctly as he again pleaded guilty to the second charge and finally to the third.
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In the U.K., the offense of “making indecent images” doesn’t always mean photographing or recording children being sexually assaulted: it can also, as in Edwards’ case, mean receiving them, even unwillingly. As the prosecution explained in court, Edwards was sent the images and videos – some reportedly involving children as young as 7 years old – in the course of a WhatsApp chat with a man who’d first contacted him on social media. The images automatically saved on Edwards’ phone. The news anchor eventually told the man to stop sending “illegal” images but seemed content to receive “further legal pornographic images” from the sender, the prosecutor said. Because receiving illegal images is considered a strict liability crime in the U.K., intention is not taken into account when ascertaining guilt. It may be for this reason that Edwards did not attempt to fight the charges.
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He now faces up to 10 years in prison if the judge decides on a custodial sentence, but he may also get away with participating in a sex offenders’ treatment program. As his lawyer, angling for a more lenient sentence, told the court, until his downfall Edwards was a man “not only of good character but of exemplary character.”
In fact, until last year, Edwards was not just considered “exemplary” by his employer, he was the de facto face of its prestigious news service, where he had spent all four decades of his broadcasting career since joining as a trainee in 1984. By the 2020s, Edwards was the BBC’s highest paid and best-known anchor, winning BAFTAs and fronting coverage of some the world’s most important news events. His status as the corporation’s star player was cemented when he was given the historic task of announcing Queen Elizabeth II’s death to the world in 2022.
On that rainy September evening all programming across every BBC television network and radio station was interrupted as the broadcasts cut to Edwards. “A few moments ago, Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” he gravely intoned, his solemn but unwavering baritone conveying both grief and professionalism.
His performance was note-perfect and widely praised, with some even calling for the anchor to be given a knighthood, the U.K.’s ultimate societal honor. Edwards had reached the pinnacle of his profession, effectively becoming the U.K.’s version of veteran U.S. broadcaster Walter Cronkite, who was once voted “the most trusted man in America.” It was a career-defining moment that, whenever his own time eventually came, would surely be recorded as the first line in his obituary.
Cut to last summer, when British tabloid The Sun ran the headline: “Sex Pics Probe: Top BBC Star Taken Off Air After ‘Paying Teenager for Sexual Pictures.’” According to the newspaper, an unnamed but “well-known presenter” had given a 17-year-old £35,000 (almost $45,000) in return for “sordid images.” Unsurprisingly the story caused a splash but as it did not identify the BBC star in question, Edwards was not immediately implicated.
But the social media rumor mill went into overdrive. Various high-profile names were bandied about, creating an untenable – and libellous — situation. It took just five days for Edwards’ wife, Vicky Flind, to release a statement in which she confirmed her husband was the subject of The Sun’s story, adding that he had checked into a hospital for “serious mental health issues.” “I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation,” she added. “We hope this statement will bring that to an end.”
Although the police said at the time they had no plans to take action and that no crimes had been committed, it marked the beginning of the end for Edwards, who was suspended from his duties at the BBC (despite the suspension, Edwards still received his full salary of between £435,000 and £439,999). After 10 months on leave, he resigned in April of this year citing “medical advice.” What he failed to mention was that he’d been arrested five months earlier for “making indecent images of children.” He was charged last month. British newspapers report that he has also since split with Flind, the mother of his five children.
Outside the court on Wednesday there was a maelstrom even more furious than that encountered by Kevin Spacey when he appeared at the same building two years ago to face charges of sexual assault. Camera crews collided with protestors, some carrying signs saying “#BBCSavilleSyndrome,” a reference to 1980s BBC host Jimmy Saville who, after his death, was revealed to be a prolific sexual offender who had abused his position at the BBC to prey on hundreds of victims, many underage. The BBC was accused of turning a blind eye to Saville’s crimes.
Clad in a dark suit and crisp white shirt not entirely dissimilar to the somber outfit he wore while delivering the news of the Queen’s death two years earlier, Edwards was escorted through the baying crowd by police officers and into the courthouse. It’s impossible to know what was going through his head as he entered the dock in front of the world’s press, some of whom had previously been his colleagues, but the strangeness of the situation he found himself in could not have escaped him.
For 40 years he had been the face of the news; now he was the news.
