AG百家乐在线官网

Explainer

Five unanswered questions the BBC faces after Huw Edwards' guilty pleas

Veteran news presenter Huw Edwards fronted the BBC during some of the biggest news stories in recent years and was one of the organisation's best-known figures.

Thursday 1 August 2024 14:48, UK

Why you can trust Sky News

The BBC is under pressure to answer questions over its handling of the Huw Edwards case after the veteran news presenter admitted accessing indecent images of children.

One of the BBC's highest-paid employees before he resigned in April, the 62-year-old ended up at the centre of a scandal after a report in The Sun last year accused an unnamed presenter of paying a teenager for explicit photographs.

Edwards was arrested months later in November 2023 over an "entirely unrelated" investigation after officers seized the phone of a convicted paedophile.

The Metropolitan Police has named the subject of the original investigation as Alex Williams, 25, from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

Williams sent Edwards 41 indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021.

Edwards was charged in June - and on Wednesday pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. He will be sentenced in September.

The BBC has serious questions to answer.

Why did the BBC continue to pay Edwards after his arrest?

Edwards was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the BBC's latest annual report - making him the BBC's third-highest-paid presenter.

But in November last year, Edwards was arrested and the broadcaster was made aware it was over "serious offences".

At the time, Edwards had been off air since July 2023, but BBC News said he was paid over £200,000 since his arrest.

The corporation would have a duty of care towards him as an employee - and some action may have been punitive or extreme had Edwards been innocent.

馃憠馃憟

The BBC said in a statement after Edwards' court appearance that had he been charged while employed, it would have acted "immediately to dismiss him".

Similarly, it said that it had been made aware of a "significant risk to his [Edwards'] health".

But, to keep paying him was ultimately a judgement call for the people at the top of the organisation.

Why didn't the BBC sack Edwards and allow him to resign?

The BBC would have policies over how to handle an employee being arrested and facing serious accusations.

However, it may never have anticipated having to implement them over one of the corporation's best-known figures.

The BBC faces questions over the threshold of accusations and conduct that would lead to it sacking such a senior employee - when they fall short of breaking the law.

It said it had concerns over Edwards' health, but kept him as an employee until he decided to leave, and it didn't act until the law did.

This inaction is likely partly why Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called for an urgent meeting with BBC bosses.

Who told the BBC that Edwards had been arrested?

The broadcaster said in its statement yesterday it had been "made aware in confidence" of Edwards' arrest.

It remains unclear whether the corporation was notified by the police, or Edwards himself.

Did the BBC have a responsibility to inform the public about the arrest?

The broadcaster is primarily funded by licence fee payers, supplemented by income from its commercial subsidiaries.

As such, questions remain over its inaction over the case, and decision to sit on the information of his arrest.

It likely based its decision weighing up several factors, including Edwards' mental health, his right to privacy, whether it was in the public interest, plus any possible legal ramifications.

Speaking on last night's BBC News at Ten, presenter Clive Myrie explained: "The BBC says it knew Huw Edwards had been arrested back in November. To be clear, we here at BBC News are editorially independent when reporting on the corporation and the news division only learnt of his arrest and the charges along with the rest of the media on Monday."

BBC statement over Huw Edwards

"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.

"The police have confirmed that the charges are not connected to the original complaint raised with the BBC in the summer of 2023, nevertheless in the interests of transparency we think it important to set out some points about events of the last year.

"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.

"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.

"We want to reiterate our shock at Mr Edwards鈥� actions and our thoughts remain with all those affected."

What about the other complaints over Edwards conduct?

Jake Kanter, international investigations editor for Deadline, touched on these other complaints when speaking to the Sky News Daily podcast: "You may remember, at the time The Sun story was published, there were also claims about the fact that Huw Edwards had potentially, allegedly, behaved inappropriately with younger colleagues at the BBC.

"Those claims were reported by Newsnight and other outlets at the time, and we understand that the BBC may have looked into that as part of its work around Huw Edwards. The trouble with that is we have no idea of the outcome of that."

He added: "I do think that there will be a need for transparency, now that we have this admission of guilt."

It remains unclear if the BBC will reinvestigate these other claims in light of Edwards' guilty pleas.

Related Topics