What sentence was Huw Edwards given for making child abuse images?
The disgraced ex-BBC presenter avoided jail after admitting three charges of “making” indecent photographs.
Disgraced former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been spared jail after admitting accessing indecent images of children as young as seven.
The 63-year-old had previously admitted three charges of “making” indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday (16 September) Edwards was handed a six-month jail term, suspended for two years.
Edwards was also ordered to pay £3,000 in prosecution costs and was told he would be put on the sex offenders’ register for seven years; would be subject to 25 rehabilitation sessions and be placed on the sex offender treatment programme for 40 days.
What was Edwards convicted of?
The ex-BBC presenter pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at the same court in July.
During that court appearance, it was claimed Edwards had been involved in online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.
The bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period.
On 2 February 2021, the male asked whether what he was sending was too young, in response to which Edwards told him not to send any underage images, the court heard. The indecent images that were sent included seven category A images, the most serious classification, 12 category B, and 22 category C.
Of those images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine.
Edwards sent money to paedophile
At his sentencing, the court heard that Edwards gave Williams hundreds of pounds after he sent him the pornographic images, though his defence barrister Philip Evans KC said the broadcaster did not make payments to Williams in order to receive indecent images of children.
The prosecution said Williams had asked Edwards for a “Christmas gift after all the hot videos”.
Prosecutor Ian Hope said: “Alex Williams says he wants some Air Force 1 trainers that cost around £100, and Mr Edwards offers to send him £200.”
“It is also clear that Mr Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money – low hundreds of pounds on an occasional basis – to Alex Williams which Mr Williams directly asked for on several occasions, as gifts or presents, apparently off the back of sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards, about which images they chatted.
“Alex Williams has stated that the money was more generally to support him at university and amounted to around £1,000 to £1,500.”
Details emerge of Whatsapp messages
The final indecent image was sent in August 2021, a category A film featuring a young boy, with convicted paedophile Williams telling the newsreader the child was “quite young looking” and that he had more images which were illegal.
Addressing the exchange, Mr Hope told the court during Edwards'' sentencing: “Alex Williams says he has some ‘naughty pics and vids unsure if you’d like’. Mr Edwards tells him to ‘go on’ and Alex Williams states ‘yng (sic)’.
“Mr Edwards again tells him to ‘go on’ and Alex Williams sends a category A moving image showing a male child aged around seven to nine…”
“Mr Edwards inquires where the video is from and Alex Williams says an image sharing group on another social media platform which they have both also used, Telegram.
“Alex Williams says the subject is ‘quite yng looking’ to which Mr Edwards responds it ‘can be deceptive’ and asks if he has ‘any more?’”
Edwards told him not to send any illegal images, the court was told. No more were sent, and the pair continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022.
What does 'making' indecent images mean?
In the eyes of the law, 'making' indecent images means: “to cause to exist, to produce by action, to bring about” indecent images. It does not necessarily mean the person charged with the crime physically produced the original indecent image in question.
According to CPS guidance, this means 'making' an indecent image can include:
opening an email attachment containing an image
downloading an image from a website onto a computer screen
storing an image in a directory on a computer
accessing a pornographic website in which indecent images 'pop-up'
receiving an image via social media, even if unsolicited and even if part of a group
live-streaming images of children
While the age of consent for sexual intercourse in the UK is 16, it is actually an offence to make, distribute, possess or show any indecent images of anyone aged under 18, even if the content was created with the consent of that young person.
Category A
According to the Sentencing Council, making category A images involves: possessing, sharing or creating images "involving penetrative sexual activity" or possessing, sharing or creating "images involving sexual activity with an animal or sadism".
The starting point for sentences for the production of category A images is six years in custody but can range from four to nine years.
Category B
Making category B images involves: possessing, sharing or creating "images involving non-penetrative sexual activity", according to the Sentencing Council.
The starting point for making category B images is two years in prison but can range from one to four years.
Category C
The Sentencing Council outlines that category C images are other indecent images that do not fall within categories A or B.
Jail terms for these images starts at 18 months in custody but can range from one to three years.
Will Edwards have to pay back his salary?
In July 2023 it was announced Edwards was receiving "in-patient hospital care" for "serious mental health issues” after he was named as the subject of an investigation by The Sun newspaper that claimed a BBC presenter had paid a total of £35,000 for sexual content.
By the following November he had been arrested in connection with the probe into indecent images, but remained employed by the BBC until April this year, when he resigned from the corporation.
Despite knowing about his arrest, bosses at the broadcaster continued to pay him his salary.
Speaking to the House of Lords’ communications and digital committee, the BBC director-general Tim Davie suggested that the BBC could take steps such as dismissal before charge sooner, if it faces similar situations in the future.
When questioned about attempts to make Edwards repay the salary he received between his arrest and resignation from the BBC, Davie said: “We’ve made the formal request, and I can’t go into too much detail, but discussions are under way, but I’ve got no further news, apart from the BBC’s position is clear, the money should be returned, and we made the request.”
Asked if a deadline had been set for Edwards to respond, he said: “I don’t believe we set a deadline… but we do expect to make progress and get an answer.”
Davie added the BBC intended to “explore” the legal process if Edwards refuses to comply with its request.
