Watch: Ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards attends court on indecent images charges

Watch as former BBC presenter Huw Edwards appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 30 July, charged with making indecent images of children.

The disgraced broadcaster, 62, admitted to three counts of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021.

The court heard how Edwards had been involved in an online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp who sent him 377 sexual images, 41 of which were of children.

Seven of these were Category A images - the worst kind - with two being of a child estimated to be between ages of seven and nine.

Others were of children between the ages of 13 and 15.

In court on Wednesday, Edwards spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and address before calmly stating his guilty pleas at the start of the 26-minute hearing.

Edwards was one of the BBC’s most prominent and highest-paid news anchors, breaking major stories such as Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

He left the corporation in April on medical grounds.

Edwards now faces up to ten years in prison, but Ian Hope, prosecuting, told the court that a suspended sentence might be considered.

Speaking in Edwards’ defence, barrister Philip Evans KC said: “There’s no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has… in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort.

“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.”