BBC director general Tim Davie has defended the corporation’s decision not to dismiss Huw Edwards, the former star newsreader who was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children in November 2023, despite the seriousness of the charges. Edwards pleaded guilty this week to three charges of making indecent images of children. Davie said that the police had requested confidentiality during their investigation and that the BBC had acted with “difficult decisions” made in the “fair and judicious manner”. He also cited the need to consider the BBC’s overall duty of care to Edwards.
The use of licence fee payers’ money during the investigation has also come under scrutiny from the UK’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. Despite the BBC being aware of the severity of the alleged offences against Edwards, the BBC has stated they did not know the specifics of the charges, nor were they informed of the age of the children in the images. Davie also confirmed that BBC CEO Deborah Turness was aware of the charges against Edwards.
Edwards, who had received a pay rise before the allegations were made, resigned in April citing “medical advice”. Davie confirmed that Edwards would receive his pension, but that recovering any additional pay under the circumstances was “legally challenging. These are unfortunately the specifics of how it works”. Davie stated that any evidence found during the BBC’s investigation into Edwards’ behaviour would be turned over to the police if it was related to the serious charges against him.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer expressed his shock and the Culture Secretary described Edwards’ actions as “abhorrent”. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed that they had spoken to the BBC to clarify safeguards and the further action to be taken regarding the handling of this case, especially in relationship to the handling of licence fee payers’ money
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
