Disgraced presenter Edwards is spared jail

DISGRACED former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been spared an immediate jail sentence after admitting accessing indecent images of children as young as seven.

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The 63-year-old previously admitted three charges of “making” indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Edwards held his hands together and leaned forward throughout his sentencing hearing as he was handed six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The court heard Edwards told Williams “go on” when asked if he wanted “naughty pics and vids” of somebody described as “yng (sic)”.

Of the indecent images he received, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine.

Chief Magistrate, district judge Paul Goldspring, said reputational and financial damage was the “natural consequence of your behaviour which you brought upon yourself”.

The BBC said Edwards had “betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him” – adding the corporation was “appalled by his crimes”.