HUW Edwards is “utterly deplorable” and should hand back money paid to him by the BBC, an ex-colleague has said.
Former BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell has blasted Edwards for not stepping down following his arrest in November.
Instead, he was one of the BBC’s highest-paid presenters with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24.
His arrest came four months after The Sun reported separate claims he had paid a teen £35,000 for explicit images.
Edwards was charged with making 37 indecent images of children in June, though the information was only made public last month, before admitting to the offences on Wednesday.
Mr Witchell slammed his former colleague as “dishonourable and shabby”, adding that he should repay the money paid to him while he was under arrest.
He told the Daily Mail: “I now think his behaviour is utterly deplorable.
“The very least he should have done last November when he was arrested is immediately to have resigned. He would have known then that the game was up.
“Instead, he put the BBC in an impossible position as it tried to discharge its duty of care towards him.
“The very least he should do now, if he has a shred of decency,
is to repay the money the BBC has paid him since his arrest.”
His comments come as BBC staff are understood to be “furious” after bosses admitted to giving Edwards a pay rise.
Corporation chiefs, who became aware of the police probe in November, yesterday condemned his “abhorrent behaviour”.
But the BBC continued to pay Edwards, who had been suspended in relation to different allegations but remained employed on a full salary of nearly £480,000, until he quit the broadcaster on “medical advice” in April.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is now hauling in Mr Davie to explain why the BBC carried on paying Edwards after his arrest.
Edwards is facing the prospect of jail after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children on Wednesday.
He received sex abuse videos of kids as young as seven on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.
But a note co-signed by senior management including Mr Davie, chief executive Deborah Turness and chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva circulated to BBC staff this week caused further furore.
It said: “Many of you will have seen that Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to charges against him.
“We are appalled by this news — there can be no place for such behaviour.
“Some of you may feel shocked and saddened by this news and will have worked closely with Huw Edwards over the years.
“Many of you will be working on this story, and we want to thank you for your professionalism in carrying on with your jobs in difficult circumstances.”
BY Tom Seaward
THIS is the latest in a long line of paedophile scandals dating back decades to have marred the BBC’s reputation.
Jimmy Savile’s shocking crimes rocked the corporation in 2012, when the presenter was revealed to be a prolific sex offender.
Savile, who died in 2011 before the allegations became widely known, is thought to have assaulted up to 450 young people, with police recording 31 allegations of rape against him.
His crimes stretched back to 1955 and allegations included the abuse of desperately ill children and necrophilia.
Jonathan King, BBC presenter and music impresario, was jailed for seven years in 2001 for molesting five teenage boys in the 1980s.
Thick of It actor Chris Langham was caged for ten months in 2007 for downloading child sex abuse images and videos.
It’s a Knockout star Stuart Hall got 30 months in 2013 for indecent assaults on girls.
Original Radio 1 presenter Chris Denning was caged for 13 years in 2014 for abusing 26 boys from 1967 to 1987, and got another 13-year sentence two years later.
He had also done jail time in the 1980s for assaulting boys.
And shamed presenter Rolf Harris was jailed for five-and- a-half years in 2014 for molesting four young girls, including one aged seven.
Edwards’ arrest came four months after The Sun reported claims that Edwards had paid a teen £35,000 for explicit images.
It comes after we handed our dossier on Edwards to the BBC last year to help its probe into the newsreader after we first exposed how he had received sexual pictures from a vulnerable youngster.
A BBC spokesman said this week: “The BBC is shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today.
“There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.
“The police have confirmed that the charges are not connected to the original complaint raised with the BBC in the summer of 2023.
“Nevertheless in the interests of transparency we think it important to set out some points about events of the last year.
“In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation.
“At the time, no charges had been brought and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health.
“Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court.
“If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him.
“In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC.
“During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions.
“We want to reiterate our shock at Mr Edwards’ actions and our thoughts remain with all those affected.”
