Huw Edwards: BBC Says Investigation Into Presenter Will Be Complex
BBC Director General Tim Davie has warned that it will be complex for the corporation to get to the bottom of allegations against Huw Edwards while being mindful of its duty of care to the presenter.
In an email to BBC staff hours after Edwards was named as the presenter at the eye of a UK media storm, Davie said it was a “difficult time” for those involved.
Edwards is currently in hospital receiving treatment for mental health issues, his wife said. The presenter will not face a police inquiry, but his alleged conduct will now be the focus of a BBC investigation.
It follows The Sun newspaper reporting that the BBC star had given a young person £35,000 ($45,000) in return for sex pictures. The exchanges allegedly began in 2020 when the young person was aged 17.
Edwards, the BBC’s highest-profile and highest-paid news anchor, is yet to comment on the allegations. His wife Vicky Flind, herself a prominent TV producer, said he will respond when able.
Davie said: “This remains a very complex set of circumstances. As we have done throughout, our aim must be to navigate through this with care and consideration, in line with the BBC values.”
Also this evening, The Sun issued a statement saying that it would not be publishing further allegations against Edwards. It stood by its reporting and said it would cooperate with the BBC’s probe.
Below is Davie’s full message to staff:
Dear all,
I wanted to write following this evening’s statements from the family of Huw Edwards and the police.
Many of you will have read the words of Vicky Flind, Huw’s wife. It is a reminder that the last few days have seen personal lives played out in public. At the heart of this are people and their families.
This will no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days. I want to reassure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved.
Also this afternoon, the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police confirmed they would be taking no further action following an assessment of information provided to them.
As you know, we were asked to pause our fact finding investigations until that assessment had been concluded. It is important we now continue with this work. I want to be clear that in doing so we will follow due process.
This remains a very complex set of circumstances. As we have done throughout, our aim must be to navigate through this with care and consideration, in line with the BBC Values.
In light of media reports in recent days, I want to be absolutely clear that if anyone has any queries or concerns or would like to pass information to us then please email [redacted].
Thank you and best wishes
Tim
Below is The Sun‘s statement in full:
“The allegations published by The Sun were always very serious. Further serious allegations have emerged in the past few days.
“It is right that the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team continues to investigate these thoroughly and deals with them in the way that they think is appropriate.
“The Sun will cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process. We will provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel.
“The Sun has no plans to publish further allegations.
“We must also re-emphasise that The Sun at no point in our original story alleged criminality and also took the decision neither to name Mr Edwards nor the young person involved in the allegations.
“Suggestions about possible criminality were first made at a later date by other media outlets, including the BBC.
“From the outset, we have reported a story about two very concerned and frustrated parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and payments from him that fuelled the drug habit of a young person.
“We reported that the parents had already been to the police who said that they couldn’t help. The parents then made a complaint to the BBC which was not acted upon. It is now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
Source: Deadline
