It was last Friday when The Sun newspaper uncovered a scandal involving a then anonymous BBC presenter. The information suggested that a British public television journalist had paid a minor in exchange for explicit sexual images. Without citing the name of the defendant, speculation about the identity of the journalist skyrocketed.
On Wednesday, the wife of the accused revealed who it was: Huw Edwards, the BBC’s highest-paid news presenter. His wife, Vicky Flind, confirmed Edwards’ identity on his behalf and claimed that she did so “primarily out of concern for his mental well-being” and to protect his five children.
She explained, in a statement, that her husband suffers from serious mental health problems and that after the events of the last few days he is admitted to a hospital care center, where he will remain for a while. She added that Edwards, 61, will explain when she is better: “Once she is well enough to do so, she intends to respond to the stories that have been published.”
The newspaper The Sun revealed that the parents of a young man underage claimed that their son had received up to 35,000 pounds for three years -from when he was 17 to 20, his current age- in exchange for those sexual images that he asked Edwards. With that money, the young man allegedly paid for his drug addiction. It details that the child’s mother was able to see the BBC star, of whom she herself was an admirer, in underwear “ready for my son to perform for him” in a video.
When the first information came out, another young man in his 20s contacted the BBC to report that he received threatening messages from the same presenter through a dating application. More accusations have been added: a 23-year-old man assured The Sun that Edwards had violated the confinement to meet with him; and another under the age of 17 revealed some messages that the presenter supposedly sent him on Instagram in 2019.
The journalist’s wife recalls in her statement that her husband has suffered from depression in recent years, something that Edwards himself publicly acknowledged that he has suffered for 20 years. Culture Minister Lucy Frazer, who reports to the BBC, spoke to the corporation’s CEO, Tim Davie, about the “very worrying allegations involving one of its presenters,” she said on Twitter. “Davie has assured me that the BBC is investigating it quickly and tactfully,” the conservative minister wrote on her account on the social network.
The BBC continues with its internal investigation after the police have seen no indication of crime in the accusations against the presenter, who receives a salary between 435,000 and 439,999 pounds (between 511,000 and 515,000 euros).
Huw Edwards began his career at the BBC in 1984, when he joined the network as an intern. Originally from Wales, he worked as a political reporter for his region and later became a parliamentary correspondent for the BBC in Wales.
In the nineties he was already a regular face of the BBC News channel, until he became the presenter of the nightly news for more than two decades, the most watched in the country.
Perhaps the most important moment in his long television career was when he announced, in September, the death of Queen Elizabeth II. “A few moments ago, Buckingham Palace announced the death of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.” With these words, the now accused of pedophilia announced to the world the historic event that marked 2022.
