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Key points
- Huw Edwards has been identified as the BBC presenter who paid a younger staffer for explicit photos.
- Amid the furore, the police announced that they were taking no further action against Edwards.
- The BBC has resumed its investigation into the presenter, it said.
- The broadcaster admitted this week that it had failed to alert Edwards to the complaint about him for seven weeks.
- Edwards, in hospital, is reportedly angry with both the BBC and The Sun over his treatment.
London: The BBC has resumed its investigation into Huw Edwards after police announced that they were taking no further action against the presenter.
The corporation said it would conduct “a thorough assessment of the facts whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved”.
BBC presenter Huw Edwards in 2017. Credit: AP
Edwards remains suspended from his job despite the Metropolitan Police concluding that there was no information to indicate that a criminal offence had been committed.
The BBC is facing further scrutiny over its handling of the situation, and The Sun has confirmed it has no plans to publish further allegations.
The broadcaster admitted this week that it had failed to alert Edwards to the fact that a complaint had been made about him by the parents of a young person to whom he was alleged to have made payments in exchange for explicit images.
The presenter was kept in the dark for seven weeks and was only informed by the BBC last Thursday after The Sun had approached the corporation to say it planned to run the story. That left him with little time to prepare for the media storm.
Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, is understood to have been aware that Edwards was being treated in hospital for mental health issues.
On Wednesday Davie wrote to staff, saying that “the last few days have seen personal lives played out in public. At the heart of this are people and their families”.
He added: “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.”
It was later reported that two current and one former BBC staff member had claimed that they had received inappropriate messages from Edwards.
BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has been identified by his wife Vicky Flind as the presenter at the centre of the allegations.Credit: Reuters
A former employee said they had received late night messages, including kisses, the BBC’s Newsnight reported.
Two people who still work for the organisation said they had received messages commenting on their physical appearance. One said they appeared to be flirtatious, and that they were sent this year, the program reported.
Davie said of BBC’s internal investigation: “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.”
The BBC is now under pressure to complete the internal investigation as quickly as possible.
A spokesman said: “The police had previously asked us to pause our fact-finding investigations and we will now move forward with that work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved.”
Friends of Edwards said he was angry with both the BBC and The Sun over his treatment. Andrew Marr, speaking on his LBC show, asked if the BBC had “behaved effectively or well or rightly, given that nobody picked up the phone to Huw Edwards until last week”.
BBC is under renewed scrutiny.Credit: Getty
He was speaking to Jon Sopel, a friend of Edwards for 35 years, who pointed out that the presenter has been cleared of any criminality by the Met.
“So what are you left with? Someone who had a perhaps rather complicated personal life, someone who was wrestling with certain issues. He wouldn’t be the first to do that,” said Sopel.
Marr added: “And so what? We are all human, we have all got our frailties, we all know that Huw has got a very lovely and much-admired wife, Vicky Flind, and five children, so there is a lot of family involved.”
‘The provisional wing of The Sun’
Earlier, on the News Agents podcast, Sopel and Emily Maitlis, both former BBC presenters, criticised the corporation for leading Tuesday’s flagship evening news bulletin with an allegation that Edwards had sent “threatening” online messages to a young person he met via a dating app.
Seeing his own colleagues reporting such a story will have only increased his turmoil, they said. Sopel accused BBC News of acting like “the provisional wing of The Sun” and said of Edwards: “I cannot begin to imagine the sort of pressure, the sort of anguish, of turmoil, that is going on in his life.”
The Six O’Clock News was caught on the hop by the announcement by Edwards’ wife, made moments before the program went on air, that he was the BBC presenter involved.
Sophie Raworth wrongly announced that Edwards had resigned. She also introduced the bulletin by saying that the presenter was facing “yet more allegations of inappropriate behaviour”, this time towards colleagues at the BBC.
However, no further reference was made to those allegations in the program.
Sopel also rounded on Jeremy Vine, who had earlier called for Edwards to identify himself publicly and put an end to the social media speculation that meant several stars were wrongly identified as the presenter involved.
“Jeremy is a friend of mine, and I disagree with him on this,” he said, adding that Vine should “shut the f— up”.
Other presenters who expressed sympathy for Edwards included John Simpson, who said: “I feel so sorry for everyone involved in this: for the Edwards family, for the complainants, and for Huw himself. No criminal offences were committed, so it’s a purely personal tragedy for everyone involved.”
Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street press secretary, said he and Edwards had often discussed mental health.
Campbell tweeted: “Like virtually everyone else, I know absolutely nothing about the events that have led to the statement by Huw Edwards’ wife. But I do know that he is a superb broadcaster. I know too that he has a long history of depression.
“The police having said no action is to be taken, whatever he did or did not do is a matter for him, and his family, and for the BBC.”
ITV’s Robert Peston opened his programme on Wednesday with a tribute to Vicky Flind, Huw Edwards’ wife who is the editor and co-creator of Peston.
“It has been difficult to feel what she and her family have been going through,” he said, questioning whether there was “a public interest in publishing the original story and in the subsequent coverage” if no crime was committed.
‘The Sun’ to cooperate with BBC probe
A spokesman for The Sun said: “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 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.”
If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
Telegraph, London
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