Newsreader Sophie Raworth was forced to apologise to viewers after falsely stating that her BBC colleague Huw Edwards had resigned on air.
BBC News sparked confusion after the presenter broke the news that Edwards had resigned after his wife came forward to announce he was the presenter at the centre of allegations.
Raworth made the error when opening the BBC News at Six programme, the Mirror reports
Huw Edwards's wife shared a statement confirming he was the male presenter alleged to have paid a teenager money in exchange for explicit photographs. The 61-year-old has been suspended by the BBC.
When opening the news programme, Raworth said: "At six, Huw Edwards is the presenter accused of paying a teenager for explicit photos. In the last few minutes, he has announced his resignation."
A few moments later the host then clarified Huw has not resigned from the BBC.
She said: "I must just correct something as well because this is all breaking in the last few minutes but he is not resigning. He has been named by his wife, he has not resigned."
Huw's wife, Vicky Flind, issued a statement on behalf of her husband, on Wednesday evening. She said was "suffering from serious mental health issues" and was now "receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future" as she asked for privacy for her family.
It 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."
The Metropolitan Police also confirmed this evening that no criminal offence has been committed by Mr Edwards.
Allegations that a BBC presenter had paid a young person £35,000 for sexually explicit images, which started when they were just 17, were first published by the Sun on Friday, July 7.
Since then, the lawyer of the young person at the centre of those initial allegations has "rubbished" the claims on behalf of their client, while the parents have stood by their initial claims and a second person has come forward claiming to the BBC they received what they described as "threatening" messages from the presenter after meeting them on a dating app.
A third young person has also reportedly come forward to claim that the BBC presenter broke lockdown rules by travelling to meet them.
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