A man who received child abuse images from the same paedophile who supplied them to Huw Edwards has been given a suspended sentence after arguing he should get the same treatment as the BBC presenter.
Jac Davies, 25, was given a sentence of 12 months, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to possession of class A drugs and possession of indecent images of children, sent to him by Alex Williams, who sent similar images to Edwards.
Davies was included in the same investigation by South Wales police that led to Edwards receiving a suspended sentence at Westminster magistrates court after admitting accessing indecent images of children as young as seven.
The 63-year-old admitted three charges of “making” indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by Williams over WhatsApp.
At Leeds magistrates court on Tuesday, the prosecutor Michelle Kruger said: “Both Williams and Mr Huw Edwards have been dealt with by the courts, and Huw Edwards, who you will be aware of, received a suspended sentence for the indecent images he was involved in.”
Davies’s defence lawyer, Stewart Page, told the court: “I think it’s incumbent upon me to mention that you also need to consider parity on sentence. You are aware of a certain individual who was sentenced a number of months ago – he too had no previous convictions.”
During his four decades at the corporation, Edwards led coverage of historic events including Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022 and most recently the coronation of King Charles in May 2023.
The court heard West Yorkshire police attended Davies’s home after being alerted to the investigation into Williams and Edwards. While he was at the police station, his electronic devices were seized by officers, who found 84 indecent images, including some involving babies.
Addressing the most serious images found, known as category A images, Kruger said: “One of them was a moving image in a bedroom location showing a baby lying on a bed.”
Kruger said an adult male could be seen performing a sex act on the infant. The prosecutor said other images featured boys aged three to five.
The court heard Davies was found to be in possession of 36 category A images, 30 category B and 18 category C.
Kruger said a Telegram chat was also uncovered by officers that showed Davies speaking to others about how he wanted to “destroy newborns” and going into “graphic detail” about what he would do to them.
He will remain on the sex offender register for 10 years.
