Huw Edwards must pay back every penny he received while suspended, demand family who blew whistle on BBC newsreader
THE family who blew the whistle on Huw Edwards say he must pay back every penny he received while suspended.
BBC chiefs yesterday said they had been conned by a “villain leading a double life”.
They want him to return £200,000 he got after being arrested for having child sex abuse pictures last November.
But the family say predator Edwards, 62, should pay back £355,000 — his pay from July 2023, when our story broke, until this April.
He was off-air throughout.
Beeb chairman Samir Shah released a public statement saying the corporation wanted him to return the six-figure sum — paid after Edwards had been arrested for child abuse images.
Last night it emerged that, when BBC execs first learned Edwards had been arrested in November, they asked him if he had received illegal images.
But sources said they were shut down by his lawyers citing mental health — so they carried on paying him from licence-fee funds.
BBC insiders said that if Edwards refuses to give back the £200,000 they will consider taking him to court but chances of success are slim.
Yesterday Mr Shah — said to be incandescent with rage at Edwards — also released a note to employees, saying: “It was a shock to discover that Huw Edwards was living a double life.
“On the face of it, he was a much-admired broadcaster with whom the BBC had entrusted with presiding over national events . . . but he betrayed the trust of staff and our audiences in the most egregious possible way.
“Let me be clear: the villain of this piece is Huw Edwards; the victims are those children for whose degradation Huw Edwards provided a market for.”
In the separate public statement Mr Shah said the BBC’s former News at Ten anchor had “behaved in bad faith” and had clearly “undermined trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute”.
He added: “Today, the Board has authorised the Executive to seek the return of salary paid to Mr Edwards from the time he was arrested in November last year.
“Mr Edwards pleaded guilty to an appalling crime. Had he been upfront when asked by the BBC about his arrest, we would never have continued to pay him public money. He has clearly undermined trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute.”
The parents of the young man at the centre of The Sun’s original revelations about Edwards said he should repay all the money he received while suspended — not just £200,000.
The vulnerable man says he sent explicit pictures to Edwards who is said to have paid him £35,000.
The presenter was first suspended last July when our story was published.
Between July 2023 and this April, when he left the BBC, Edwards was paid £355,000. He was off-air throughout.
The youngster’s stepdad said: “He shouldn’t have been paid when suspended, let alone being paid for five months more after they knew he had been arrested.
BBC CHAIR’S STATEMENT
“It was a shock to discover that Huw Edwards was living a double life.
On the face of it, he was a much-admired broadcaster with whom the BBC had entrusted the responsibility of anchoring its flagship News programme and presiding over national events but he betrayed the trust of staff and our audiences in the most egregious possible way.
Let me be clear: the villain of this piece is Huw Edwards; the victims are those children for whose degradation Huw Edwards provided a market for.”
“It’s immoral. I don’t think he will willingly pay it back though.”
Taking Edwards to court would be difficult and a highly unprecedented move but insiders say they would consider any viable option.
But it could end up costing more in legal fees than the £200,000 they want to claw back.
In a separate case to the youngster, on July 31 Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.
Westminster JPs heard he admitted having 41 indecent pics of children sent by a paedophile.
He will next appear in court on September 16 and could be jailed.
BEEB CULTURE PROBED
By Rod McPhee
BBC chiefs have ordered a review into workplace culture in the wake of the Huw Edwards scandal.
Chairman Samir Shah highlighted power imbalances that allowed the likes of Edwards to act in an inappropriate and predatory way.
The Sun has exposed how he tried to lure a junior staffer to his room on the weekend of Prince Philip’s funeral, and used his position to try to groom other men.
Mr Shah said: “We remain concerned about the potential for inappropriate workplace behaviour, particularly in creative and editorial environments. The BBC must hold itself to the highest standards.”
Leadership of the review will be laid out by September, and it will report within months.
Staff are said to have been well aware of power imbalances that let Edwards behave as if he was untouchable.
They have blamed bosses for “creating these egotistical presenters who think they will never come a cropper”.