An appearance by Huw Edwards on BBC's The One Show last week was cancelled at the last minute. The BBC News at Ten presenter was named yesterday by his wife Vicky Flind as the man who has been accused of allegedly paying a teen more than £35,000 for sexually explicit pictures, reports the Mirror.
In a statement releaed on her husband's behalf Vicky named Huw and said he has been admitted to hospital. This comes after the 61-year-old father-of-five was first the subject of a complaint in May.
Huw's appearance on the BBC One talk show had been due to take place on Thursday, July 6. At the end of Wednesday's show, host Alex Jones previewed the guests due on the next programme.
She said: "Tomorrow Sir Lenny Henry, Huw Edwards and Katya Adler will be here. Have a lovely evening, we will see you then. Goodbye." But, Huw didn't make an appearance on the show and was replaced by Petroc Trelawny, who talked about this year's BBC Proms.
Despite this, Huw still appears on the iPlayer description for Thursday's show. It reads: "Alex Jones and Roman Kemp speak to Sir Lenny Henry about his new children’s book. Huw Edwards and Katya Adler tell us what we can expect from this year’s BBC Proms. Plus, Steve Backshall on the creatures living in our seas."
The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Wednesday, July 12, that detectives have determined there is no information to indicate a criminal offence has been committed.
A statement said: "Detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.
"In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family, both via another police force. There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.
"We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time. Should evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues be identified at any point we would expect matters to be referred to the relevant police force."
In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “We have seen the statement from the police confirming they have completed their assessment and are not taking further action. We’re grateful to them for completing this work at speed.
“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.”
The statement produced by Huw's wife Vicky read: "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 well-being 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.Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.
"To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday. In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected. I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."
*If you are struggling with mental health, you can speak to a trained advisor from Mind mental health charity on 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
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