Huw Edwards praised for ‘outstanding’ career following BBC News resignation

Huw Edwards’ BBC career has been praised by fellow journalists, commentators and social media users, after it was announced the corporation’s flagship newsreader has left the organisation “on medical advice”.

Edwards, 62, was at the centre of accusations last year that he paid a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images, with another person - in their early 20s – reporting they felt threatened by messages allegedly received from the presenter.

In separate accusations, The Sun reported a 17-year-old had alleged they were messaged love hearts and kisses by the broadcaster, while messages seen by the paper suggested Edwards travelled from London to meet a 23-year-old in their flat in February 2021 – at which time a strict ‘stay at home’ order was in place amid the coronavirus lockdown.

A legal representative for the young person who allegedly received money for explicit images first told The Sun there was “no truth” to the allegations, and later added in a letter reported by BBC: “For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in The Sun newspaper are ‘rubbish’.”

Meanwhile, both the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police confirmed last year that no crime had been committed by Edwards and that no further action would be taken in relation to the allegations.

Days after the then unnamed BBC presenter was suspended from all duties, Edwards was confirmed as the individual involved by his wife, Vicky Flind.

She said: “In light of the recent reporting regarding the ‘BBC Presenter’ I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.

“I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental wellbeing and to protect our children.

“Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”

Then, on Monday, it was confirmed by the BBC that Edwards has resigned from the corporation.

It said in a statement: “After 40 years of service, Huw has explained that his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors.

“The BBC has accepted his resignation which it believes will allow all parties to move forward. We don’t believe it appropriate to comment further.”

Edwards' work has since been commended online:

However, the mother of the unnamed young person, part of the family which originally complained to the BBC about Edwards and the alleged solicitation of explicit images in May last year, toldThe Sun: “This isn’t the end for us. We’re also suffering and have been immensely for nearly a year. We still have so many questions and need the BBC to answer them.

“We are worried that we won’t get answers now Huw’s resigned, yet we desperately need them. If he’s been found to have done something wrong, no action can be taken. My heart is broken.”

She added: “This has been a traumatic time we feel hasn’t been resolved. We want closure. This doesn’t take us any closer to it.”

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