The star BBC presenter, who is at the center of the embarrassing sex allegations, was identified as Huw Edwards on Wednesday night by his wife, who said he was hospitalized with a new type of depression following the revelations.
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At the same time, police said they had found no evidence of a criminal offense in relation to the charges against him, which have been making headlines in the British press for the past five days.
Huw Edwards, 61, who has been responsible in particular for the big 10pm news for 20 years, is one of the UK’s best-known and highest-paid presenters at the BBC, earning more than £400,000 a year (about US$685,000).
Joined the BBC in 1984 where he rose rapidly in career, It was he who announced the Queen’s death on September 8thstayed on the air for several hours, he was again at his funeral and the coronation of King Charles III. on air in May.
“I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards after five extremely difficult days for our family,” his wife Vicky Flind wrote in a statement to Britain’s PA news agency.
She added that her husband was “suffering from serious problems” with depression and that the events of the past few days had triggered a new crisis that led to his hospitalization.
“As soon as he is able, he intends to respond to the articles published,” Ms Flind continued, revealing that the presenter, who has been suspended since Sunday, has been informed of the July 6 charges against him.
Police, for their part, said they spoke specifically to the family who have accused the presenter of The Sun tabloid of paying his child £35,000 over a three-year period in exchange for pornographic photos. which would have fueled this young person’s crack addiction.
Police also spoke to the latter, who described her mother’s allegations as “bullshit”, and to the BBC before concluding they had received no information to prove an offence.
After these initial revelations, further allegations of threatening or abusive behavior were leveled against the moderator in the press.
The BBC, which has been under enormous pressure in this case for several days, said in a statement on Wednesday evening that it was “grateful” that the police had reached their conclusions “quickly”.
On Tuesday, general manager Tim Davie admitted that the Sun’s initial allegations did great harm to the audiovisual giant and announced a “red alert” review of internal operations.
The BBC had confirmed that she had been contacted by the family in mid-May. At the time, that audiovisual group had not spoken to the moderator about it and their internal investigation service – which Mr Davie says has received 250 complaints in the last six months – had only twice attempted to email and telephone the family, whereby the initial allegations were not “allegations” of a criminal nature.
No British media outlet had revealed the moderator’s name for fear of sanctions for defamation or invasion of privacy.
But his identity was widely publicized on social media and his absence from the 10pm news had not gone unnoticed by millions of BBC viewers.
The Sun, a successful tabloid owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s group, is one of the BBC’s most vocal critics.
On Wednesday he devoted seven pages to the case