There is no evidence a BBC presenter who allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photographs committed a crime, London police said on Wednesday, as the broadcaster’s wife publicly identified him for the first time as veteran news anchor Huw Edwards.
Metropolitan Police decided to take no further action after speaking with the alleged victim and that person’s parents. The parents told the Sun newspaper last week that the presenter had been allowed to remain on air after the mother complained to the BBC in May that he paid the youth ￡35,000 (US$45,722) starting in 2020 when the person was 17.
As the story topped the news in Britain all week and embroiled the BBC in scandal, speculation swirled about the identity of the presenter. Some of the BBC’s biggest on-air personalities publicly said it was not them and others called on the unnamed presenter to come forward.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Edward’s wife, Vicky Flind, late on Wednesday named her husband and said he was hospitalized with serious mental health issues.
After “five extremely difficult days for our family,” Flind said she was naming him “primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.”
“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters; he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future,” she said.
Edwards, 61, is one of Britain’s best-known and most authoritative news broadcasters, lead anchor on the BBC’s nighttime news and the face of its election coverage. He led BBC coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September last year. He is among the broadcaster’s best-paid stars, with an annual salary of at least ￡435,000.
The father of five said in a 2021 documentary that depression had left him bedridden for periods over two decades.
The BBC said it would continue its investigation into the matter.
The UK’s publicly funded national broadcaster had scrambled to deal with the crisis after the claims were first published by the Sun over the weekend. It said it became aware of a complaint in May, but “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature.”
It did not name Edwards, but said it had suspended a male star over the allegations. He last appeared on air a week earlier in Edinburgh for a special broadcast on Scottish celebrations of the coronation of King Charles III.
A lawyer representing the young person in question, who was not named, told the BBC earlier this week that “nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality.”
The lawyer said the allegations reported in the Sun were “rubbish.”
The tabloid defended its reporting, saying that concerned parents had made a complaint to the BBC that had not been acted on.
The Metropolitan Police issued a statement on Wednesday saying no further action would be taken.
“Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offense has been committed,” it said.
Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it is a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
Jon Sopel, the former BBC News North America editor, sent his best wishes to Edwards and his family.
“This is an awful and shocking episode, where there was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life,” Sopel wrote on Twitter. “That doesn’t feel very private now. I hope that will give some cause to reflect.”
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