BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, has said that he cannot see former news presenter, Huw Edwards, working at the corporation again after being given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for admitting charges of making indecent images of children. Edwards was the highest-paid journalist at the BBC, earning between £475,000 and £479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024. The BBC has requested the £200,000 he earned between his arrest last November and his resignation this April be returned.
Mr Davie said there was “shock” and “a lot of upset” at the BBC over Edwards and added that people across the organization felt “deeply, deeply let down”. He also addressed an investigation into Amanda Abbington’s complaint about her former Strictly dance partner Giovanni Pernice. He didn’t give a date for when it would be published, but insisted: “We’re pretty close to the end of that work.”
In court on Monday, evidence was presented, which revealed that Edwards had received over 40 images over several months from a convicted sex offender, including some showing a victim aged between seven and nine. Edwards was told he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years and was also told to attend a sex offender treatment programme.
The BBC launched a review into workplace culture following the Huw Edwards allegations. Mr Davie insisted that anyone who came forward was “taken seriously, they were listened to” and added that the board needs to “sign off” the review. When asked about removing Edwards from the archives, Mr Davie said that while a complete ban was unlikely, no Huw Edwards material was to be used in day-to-day programming
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