BBC presenter identified in explicit photograph accusations
News cameras have been trained on the BBC’s own front door all week, after The Sun said a top presenter at the public broadcaster paid a teenager for sexually explicit photographs. For five days, speculation filled the gaps where facts should be, with the exact allegations, the evidence and the key identities unknown. On Wednesday afternoon, the wife of Huw Edwards identified him as the male presenter at the centre of the claims. Vicky Flind issued a statement on her husband’s behalf, saying he had been hospitalised with “serious mental health issues” and would respond to the allegations when he had recovered. London police said there was no evidence that Edwards had committed a crime. The Sun said it would hand the BBC a dossier of “serious” claims but would publish no further allegations against Edwards, one of the best-known news readers at the BBC who led coverage of the Queen’s funeral last year. The BBC said it would move forward with its own investigation while “continuing to be mindful” of its duty of care to all involved.
Photograph Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images