July 12, 2023
Updated 2 hours ago
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WATCH: Huw Edwards’ story so far… in 87 seconds
Huw Edwards is in hospital with “serious mental health problems,” says his wife, who has described him as the BBC presenter at the heart of the allegations.
His wife, Vicky Flind, said she issued a statement on his behalf after days of speculation, “primarily out of concern for his spiritual well-being and to protect our children.”
The Sun claimed he paid a young person for sexually explicit images.
Met Police say Edwards, 61, is not facing any police action.
The family statement said the news anchor intended to personally respond to the allegations once he was well again.
The statement read: “In light of the recent coverage of the ‘BBC presenter’, I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after five extremely difficult days for our family. I do this primarily out of concern for his spiritual well-being and for the protection of our children.
“Huw suffers from serious mental health problems. As is well documented, he has been treated for major depression in recent years.”
“The events of the past few days have made the situation much worse, he has suffered another severe seizure and is now being treated as an inpatient at the hospital, where he will remain for the foreseeable future.”
“No crime committed”
In the statement released via PA News, she said she hoped confirming Edwards’ identity would put an end to speculation about BBC presenters unrelated to the allegations.
She said her husband was “first notified last Thursday that allegations had been made against him”.
The statement appealed for privacy on behalf of her family and said it was publicly documented that Edwards had previously suffered from mental health issues.
Minutes before the family statement was released, the Met issued a separate update examining the allegations following talks with BBC executives over the past few days.
It said: “Investigators from the Met’s Special Crime Squad have now completed their assessment and have determined that there is no information to suggest that a crime has been committed.”
“To reach this decision they have spoken through another police force to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family.”
It said investigators were “aware of media reports of additional allegations against the same individual,” but had “received no specific details or information regarding those allegations… and therefore no police action was taking place at this time.”
The BBC said it would continue its “expert investigation” into the allegations. The investigation had been put on hold at the Met’s request while it conducted its own investigation.
A company spokesman said: “We will now proceed with this work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts, while recognizing our duty of care to all parties involved.”
In an email to staff, BBC Director General Tim Davie said: “This remains a very complex issue.”
He said the family statement was “a reminder that private lives have been played out in the public eye over the last few days,” adding, “It’s about people and their families.”
“This will no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days. I want to assure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to everyone involved.”
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Watch: ‘This is such dramatic news’ – Katie Razzall opens up on Huw Edwards
Last night’s comments “were like a shot of cold water to the face of every journalist,” said Craig Oliver, former boss of Huw Edwards at Ten O’Clock News.
“I think one of the things that really came out of that is that the news should just slow down and the processes should allow the facts to come out and then the story to be reported?” he told BBC radio 4 Today.
The story raised “much bigger problems for journalism,” former ITN boss Stewart Purvis said on the show.
“Under what circumstances is it legitimate for a news organization to investigate and report on the private life of a high-profile person?” he asked.
Edwards has worked for the BBC since the mid-1980s and has grown from a trainee position to become one of BBC News’ best-known presenters.
As well as hosting Ten O’Clock News on television, he also directed coverage of major news events such as the election and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The first allegations, which first became known on Friday, concerned that the moderator had paid a young person for explicit photos at the age of 17.
The newspaper’s source was the teen’s mother and stepfather – but a letter from a lawyer written on the teen’s behalf called their account “garbage”.
South Wales Police previously said they had told the young man’s family there was no criminal wrongdoing after being approached ahead of her complaint to the BBC and her report to the Sun.
In another statement on Wednesday, police said they had recently conducted further investigations and “found no evidence that criminal offenses had been committed”.
The Sun then published another story alleging the presenter broke Covid lockdown rules in February 2021 when he met and messaged a 23-year-old he met on a dating website , which they described as “pretty punchy”.
The newspaper also allegedly published an Instagram chat between the presenter and a 17-year-old boy, in which the presenter sent messages including love heart emojis.
The BBC could not verify this news.
A spokesman for the Sun said the newspaper had no plans to publish any further allegations against Edwards and would cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process.
A statement said: “The allegations published by the Sun have always been very serious. More serious allegations have surfaced in recent days…”
“The Sun will cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process. We will provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier detailing serious and wide-ranging allegations we have received, including some from BBC staff.”
The Sun statement said it did not accuse Edwards of any crime in its original cover story.
The newspaper had reported that Edwards had paid the person for photos when she was 17 – but did not explain that such acts could be a criminal offence. Under 18s are classified as children under the Sexual Images Act. This is higher than the minimum age for sexual consent, which is 16 years.
In later versions of the story, the Sun changed the wording of this claim to “It is believed that contact between the two began when the youth was 17 years old.”
Although the allegations were public and widely discussed, the media – including BBC News – initially chose not to reveal the presenter’s name for privacy reasons.
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