The BBC’s top official has defended not sacking Huw Edwards upon his arrest for child abuse images amid reports the police told the Corporation not to make the arrest public.
The veteran broadcaster was arrested on November 8 but that was not made public until this week, when he was ultimately charged with making indecent photographs of children and pleaded guilty in court.
The Met Police on Thursday confirmed it told the BBC of Edwards’s arrest, saying it had informed bosses in “strict confidence”.
"The information is provided in strict confidence in order to enable the individual's employer to consider what risk mitigation measures might be necessary,” a Met Police spokesperson said.
Defending the decision not to sack Edwards in November, BBC director-general Tim Davie said: “We were very shocked.
“No-one knew about the specifics of what we heard over the last few days, which have been deeply disturbing.
"Now, when it comes to the decision we made in November, when we were obviously faced with a difficult decision, we considered it very carefully.
"The police came to us and gave us information that they had arrested Mr Edwards.
"But they wanted to be assured of total confidence and the reason they rung us at that point... it's a technical process, which is to ensure employees are protected and there's no risk.
"They are very clear that it's totally confidential."
Mr Davie said the flagship BBC News at Ten presenter had been suspended before his eventual resignation in April.
Questions are still however likely to be raised about why Edwards continued to receive his large salary – as the highest paid newsreader at the corporation – for five months after his arrest.
Before he resigned in April on medical advice, he was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the BBC’s latest annual report.
This last salary marked a £40,000 pay rise from 2022/23, when he was paid between £435,000 and £439,999.
The BBC has said that if Edwards had been charged while he was still an employee it would have sacked him, but at the point of charge he no longer worked for the corporation.
After his guilty plea on Wednesday, a BBC spokesperson said: “In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer at the time was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation.
“At the time, no charges had been brought against Mr Edwards and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health.”
The corporation added: “The BBC is shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today. There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.
“Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court.
“If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him. In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC.
“During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions.”
Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “shocked and appalled” by the Edwards’ news when asked about the case at a press conference in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister also confirmed the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will hold urgent talks with Mr Davie.
The public currently pays £169.50 a year for the licence fee and questions will surely be raised if Edwards’ salary was the best use of that money.
Charlotte Rees-John, an employment law partner at legal firm Irwin Mitchell, told the PA news agency: “It would have been possible to dismiss Huw Edwards after he was arrested, but it is not without risk.
“I suspect this was considered but the safer approach was taken, which was to wait until charged.
“Suspension on full pay was then appropriate as was the pay rise if contractual.
“Many other organisations would have taken the risk to protect their reputation, but the BBC is under a greater level of scrutiny and they also had to consider that he was suffering with his mental health and as such at risk of serious harm.”
However, the fact Edwards has now admitted three charges of making indecent photographs – after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams – will also likely raise serious questions of trust in figures at the BBC.
The scandal with Edwards comes in the wake of the crimes of Jimmy Savile, the TV star and serial sexual abuser who managed to conceal his crimes until after his death in 2011.
It also comes weeks after the BBC delayed publishing a report in the conduct of former Radio 1 presenter Tim Westwood because of an ongoing police investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct going back four decades.
Westwood “strongly denies all allegations of inappropriate behaviour” and refutes all accusations of wrongdoing. He has not been charged with a criminal offence.
Edwards resigned from the BBC in April “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors” after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in relation to this matter. Edwards will next appear in court on September 16.
