Huw Edwards, the former BBC News presenter, was sentenced on Monday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after admitting to possessing 41 indecent images of children.

The 63-year-old, who is best known for his role on News at Ten, has been handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring.

AFP reports that the former BBC presenter, who has guided Britons through some of the country’s most significant events over the past two decades, including the death of Queen Elizabeth II, now faces a grim future.

Known for his calm delivery and the BBC’s reputation for journalistic impartiality, he became a trusted and reassuring figure for millions.

However, the 63-year-old’s career and reputation have been severely damaged following his guilty plea in July to three charges of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021.

The former anchor admitted to receiving 41 indecent images of children via WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type. Most of the children depicted were aged 13 to 15, with one between seven and nine.

Edwards was arrested in November and charged in June, but the case was only made public in late July, just days before he appeared in court to admit the charges.

Having resigned from the BBC in April on “medical advice” after 40 years with the broadcaster, the BBC, which relies on public trust, was criticised for continuing to pay Edwards a salary for six months after being informed of his arrest by the police. The BBC is funded by a license fee paid by UK households.

Edwards began anchoring the BBC’s flagship 10:00 pm news bulletin in 2003. In addition to covering the Queen’s funeral, he narrated Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and hosted UK general election coverage.

His professional life began to unravel in July 2023 when the BBC suspended him following tabloid allegations that he paid a young man for explicit images. Edwards did not comment on the allegations, but his wife stated that he was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and receiving “in-patient hospital care.”

The police investigation into Edwards began after a phone seized in an unrelated probe revealed his involvement in a WhatsApp conversation. Police report that the man who sent Edwards the images was a 25-year-old convicted paedophile.

BBC director Tim Davie expressed that the broadcaster was “very shocked” by the details revealed during Edwards’ prosecution.

The BBC Board has stated that Edwards brought the corporation into “disrepute” and has requested that he return his salary from the period of his arrest, totaling £200,000 (237,000 euros).

The BBC has faced scandals in recent years involving high-profile figures revealed as serial sex offenders, most notably presenter Jimmy Saville, whose abuse of hundreds of young girls only came to light after his death in 2011.
A current BBC employee and a former staff member who reported receiving “inappropriate messages” from Edwards have criticized an internal BBC inquiry from last year, which has not been made public.