Edwards pleads guilty over indecent images of children

Huw Edwards faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children - including two sexual videos of a boy as young as seven.

- ATHENA STAVROU

The former BBC News at Ten presenter, 62, admitted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to having 41 indecent images of children on his phone, seven of which were category A, the very worst kind.

Also among the 377 sexual images discovered by police – sent to him by 25-year-old convicted paedophile Alex Williams from Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, between December 2020 and August 2021 – were 12 category B images, and 22 category C images.

Five of the category A images featured children aged between 13 and 15, while at least two moving images depicted a child believed to be “between seven and nine”, the court was told.

On an extraordinary day:

• Edwards admitted to three counts of making indecent images of children

• It emerged he possessed 377 sexual images on his phone, including seven of the very worst kind

• The corporation admitted it knew Edwards had been arrested “for a serious offence” in November

• His barrister said his client had “both mental and physical” health issues at the time of the offences

• He now faces up to 10 years in prison when he returns for sentencing in six weeks