TV presenter Huw Edwards, the long-time face of the BBC’s flagship news programme, was given a suspended sentence at a London court on Monday after admitting making indecent images of children.
Edwards, 63, pleaded guilty in July to three charges of making indecent images of children, relating to 41 illegal images he was sent via WhatsApp – including two pornographic videos of a child aged between seven and nine-years-old.
Judge Paul Goldspring sentenced Edwards to six months in prison suspended for two years.
Seven of the illegal images were of the most serious category, prosecutor Ian Hope said, and both of those videos were marked as “read” on WhatsApp. In response to the second video, Edwards asked the man sending them: “Any more?”
The couirt heard that fthe ormer BBC journalist sent cash to a convicted pedophile who supplied him with images of child sexual abuse
“It is not an exaggeration to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters,” the magistrate said.
“He recognises the repugnant nature of such indecent images and the hurt that is done to those who appear in such images,” Ian Evans said in mitigation.
“For his part in that, he apologises sincerely, and he makes it clear that he has the utmost regret and he recognises that he has betrayed the priceless trust and faith of so many people.
“He knows he has hurt and he has damaged his family and his loved ones around him and for all of these things he is truly sorry — and he is truly sorry that he has committed these offences.”
