UPDATED: Huw Edwards Arrives At Court After Being Charged With Making Indecent Images Of Children

Former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has arrived at court today after being charged with making indecent images of children.

The 62-year-old, who arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court wearing a dark blue suit and dark sunglasses, allegedly committed three offences between December 2020 and April 2022.

He is accused of having had 37 photographs on WhatsApp, including six of the most serious type, between December 2020 and April 2022.

The Metropolitan Police said he was arrested in November last year and charged on June 26.

Edwards is accused of having six category A images, 12 category B pictures and 19 category C photographs on WhatsApp, according to the charge sheet.

The images are alleged to have been shared via WhatsApp.

If found guilty, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Edwards was one of the BBC's highest-profile and highest-paid presenters before he resigned in April on medical advice after he made the front pages accused of paying a 17-year-old for indecent images.

At the time police found no evidence of criminal behaviour.

Edwards previously fronted the BBC's News At Ten for 20 years and anchored coverage of major national events, including announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II's death and covering her funeral.

He was previously the BBC's highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24 for 160 presenting days, BBC One news specials, election specials and other TV programming, according to the corporation's latest annual report.

(c) Sky News 2024: Huw Edwards arrives at court after being charged with making indecent images of children

UPDATE

Former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

The 62-year-old, who arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court wearing a dark blue suit, blue tie, and dark sunglasses, admitted committing three offences between December 2020 and April 2022.

He had 41 photographs - seven category A images, 12 category B pictures, and 22 category C - on the messaging app WhatsApp.

The category A images - the most serious kind - were mostly of children aged 13 to 15, the court heard.

But there were two moving images of a young child, possibly aged between seven and nine years old, according to prosecutors.

WhatsApp chat

The court heard that Edwards had been involved in an online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.

The man sent Edwards 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children. The bulk of these - 36 images - were sent during a two-month period.

The court heard in February 2021, the man asked whether those featured in the images he was sending were too young, in response to which Edwards told him not to send anything illegal, the court heard.

No more were sent, though the pair continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022, the court heard.

Edwards' defence lawyer, Philip Evans KC, said there was no suggestion that the former newsreader had made or created any of the images and that the images were only in his WhatsApp.

He said Edwards, who was arrested in November last year and charged on 26 June, did not keep or send images and did not solicit images from anywhere else.

"There's no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has... in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort," he said.

"It is important also to remember for context that devices, Mr Edwards' devices, have been seized, have been searched, and there's nothing in those devices.

"It is only the images that are the subject of the charges that came via a WhatsApp chat.

"Mr Edwards did not keep any images, did not send any to anyone else, and did not and has not sought similar images from anywhere else."

What does 'making' images mean?

According to the CPS, the term "making" can include opening, accessing, downloading and storing the content, or receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited and even if part of a group.

Category A images are the most serious and include penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal or sadism, while category B images involve non-penetrative sexual activity.

Category C means the images do not fall into categories A or B and do not depict any  sexual activity.

Earlier investigation

Edwards was one of the BBC's highest-profile and highest-paid presenters before he resigned in April. The BBC said the decision was made "on medical advice".

The broadcaster's resignation came after he faced separate claims of paying a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit pictures.

Five days after the claims were published in The Sun newspaper, the Metropolitan Police said it would not be taking any further action as it did not believe any criminal activity had taken place.

Following the publication of the claims, Edwards' wife said in a statement released at the time that he was "suffering from serious mental health issues" and was "receiving in-patient hospital care".

Edwards previously fronted the BBC's News At Ten for 20 years and anchored coverage of major national events, including announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II's death and covering her funeral.

He was previously the BBC's highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24 for 160 presenting days, BBC One news specials, election specials and other TV programming, according to the corporation's latest annual report.

(c) Sky News 2024: Former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards pleads guilty to making indecent images of children