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We're ending our live coverage of the sentencing of Huw Edwards - here is a recap of what happened today. 

The 63-year-old former BBC newsreader was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years after he admitted three counts of making indecent images of children. 

He arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court shortly after 9am wearing a blue cardigan over a white shirt and pulling along a small suitcase.

In front of a packed public gallery full of journalists, prosecutor Ian Hope revealed more details of his crimes. 

The court heard Alex Williams, then a 19-year-old student, contacted Edwards through Instagram before they talked online between early 2018 and the summer of 2022.

Veteran broadcaster Edwards was arrested on November 8 last year after WhatsApp messages sent between the pair were discovered as part of an investigation into Williams - who was handed a 12-month suspended sentence earlier this year.

He had been downloading indecent images of children from the dark web and distributing them to people.  

Their conversation was often "sexual in nature" and Edwards paid Williams a total of up to 拢1,500 "as gifts or presents", although the judge found these were not direct payments for indecent images.

In one message Edwards told Williams to "go on" when asked if he'd like some "naughty pics" before he was sent a video showing a boy aged between seven to nine.

But in others, the journalist asked him not to send images of anyone underage and Edwards insisted in pre-sentence reports that he doesn't have a sexual interest in children. 

Edwards' barrister, Philip Evans KC, told the court "how profoundly sorry he is" and highlighted the mental health issues he suffers from. 

He is currently an inpatient in the private Nightingale Hospital mental health facility in central London.

Sentencing Edwards, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said his  "long-earned reputation is in tatters".

The judge said "it is obvious that these are extremely serious offences" but was satisfied he could suspend the sentence, saying Edwards doesn't "present a risk or danger to the public at large and specifically children".

A BBC spokesperson said he had "betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him" before he left court to face a media scrum.

As part of his sentence, Edwards must complete a sex offender treatment programme and 25 rehabilitation sessions. 

He will also have to sign the sex offenders' register for seven years and pay 拢3,128 in costs and a victim surcharge.

Follow the court proceedings as they happened by scrolling down through this page, or read more details in our story here:

By Bethany Minelle, entertainment reporter

Once an immaculately turned-out veteran of the screen - powdered, smooth and TV-ready - Huw Edwards presented a very different face to court today.

Arriving at Westminster Magistrates' Court with a wheelie suitcase in hand and a team of lawyers in toe, the 63-year-old former newsreader looked tired and pale.

While the bright lights and awaiting photographers would have been a familiar scenario, this time there was no red carpet, sharp suit or preparatory make-up artist to ease the former presenter's passage into the building.

Wearing a buttoned-up navy blue cardigan and white shirt without a tie, he cut a very different figure to the Edwards we recognise from the nightly News At Ten.

It was hard to believe he was formerly the BBC's top-paid newsreaders and the man who announced the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.

Edwards' mugshot, taken after his arrest in November and released today, showed the almost unrecognisable face of a man with stubble, bags under his eyes, red in the face and with a small nick to the top of his forehead.

In the dock, when listening to the judge's summary of the case, a largely expressionless Edwards leaned forward, putting his hands in a prayer-like pose to his mouth, listening intently.

When asked to stand for the judge to deliver his sentence, Edwards displayed a rare moment of movement, pulling down at the hem of his cardigan, a subconscious action maybe, revealing the nerves he had managed to disguise until then.

Once a TV giant - with his distinguished career and six-figure salary now far behind him - the judge handed Edwards a six-month suspended sentence and concluded by telling him he no doubt had "a lot to think about".

And with that, Edwards headed out to the media frenzy awaiting him outside - no doubt thankful to have avoided jail time, and keen to jump into the black Mercedes that swiftly whipped him away from the flashing cameras and awkward reporter questions.

One can only hope that this scandal - away from Huw Edwards and the BBC - will shine a light on the plight of the young children abused, aided by technology without the safeguards to protect them from harm.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is "really shocked and appalled" at the case of Huw Edwards.

The prime minister said the sentence was "for the court to decide". 

But speaking to reporters on a visit to Rome, he said: "I'm really shocked in relation to the Huw Edwards case, really shocked and appalled, as I'm sure everybody who has read or looked at it is." 

The children's commissioner for Wales released this statement after the sentencing of Huw Edwards: "These were incredibly serious crimes. The creation and sharing of any indecent images of children and young people perpetuates sexual abuse and creates lasting trauma for any child involved."

Rocoo Cifuentes added:

"If you have a concern related to indecent images of children, please report this concern to the police. People can also report suspected child sexual abuse images or videos to the Internet Watch Foundation. For any advice in relation to child protection issues you can contact my free, independent children's rights advice and assistance service or the NSPCC."

Huw Edwards walked free from court this afternoon after receiving a six-month suspended sentence over child abuse images.

This video shows the moment he left the court: 

Huw Edwards is described as a "complex individual with a psychologically challenging upbringing" in a report presented to the court as part of the sentencing hearing.

The former newsreader's relationship with his father "was particularly challenging and probably damaging psychologically", found Michael Isaac, a consultant psychiatrist and neuropsychiatrist.

He described "the restrictive, puritanical, but often hypocritical, background of growing up in the particular cultural milieu of South Wales, with a father who was highly regarded and lauded outside the family, but was perceived as behaving monstrously within the family".

This created an "enduring cognitive dissonance and low self-esteem", which was "compounded by a sense of being inferior" by not getting into Oxford University and going to Cardiff instead and "being therefore something of an outsider at the BBC".

Mr Isaac said this, along with bouts of depression, "significantly and adversely affected" Edwards' decision-making. 

A criminal defence lawyer has told Sky News it is "quite surprising" that a sexual harm prevention order was not passed against Huw Edwards.

"Almost always, if not always, these cases are committed to the Crown Court for sentence, and a sexual harm prevention order is imposed to restrict the way people use internet-enabled devices," Liam Kotrie said.

"This hasn't happened in this case, but it must be different for some other reason. Hopefully, other than the fact that he is a celebrity that has a huge fall from grace."

As Huw Edwards walked past his former BBC colleagues outside the court, he would have been feeling his status as a "pariah", our crime correspondent Martin Brunt says.

"There are people here, who've spent many years working with him," he says outside court.

Edwards was calm as he walked out of the court, speaking to a woman alongside him before getting in the car.

"It was interesting to see it was a very smart limo. A Mercedes, I think. And the woman he was talking to opened the door to let him get into the back seat," Brunt says.

"I can't imagine that he's going to experience from now on, many people opening car doors for him to get in and out.

"He is a pariah figure.

"He'll have to go back to whatever normal life he can continue with, but will, you know, still be a very, very recognisable figure, especially because of the publicity around this case."

During his sentencing remarks, the judge gave detailed reasons for why he didn't send Huw Edwards to prison.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said he accepted the 63-year-old's "positive exemplary character" and that until now he was "very highly regarded by the public for your dedication and professionalism" as he was "perhaps the most recognised newsreader or journalist in the UK".

"It is not an overstatement to say your long-earned reputation is in tatters," he said.

The judge said "it is obvious that these are extremely serious offences" - including images of very young children in the most serious category - and highlighted the impact on victims, which can be "severe and lifelong".

But he said: "I am of the clear view that you do not present a risk or danger to the public at large and specifically children."

Mr Goldspring said the focus of sentencing should be on rehabilitation and that punishment is not only achieved by way of immediate custody. 

"There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and strong personal mitigation, in particular your neuro-vulnerabilities at the time and your remorse, which I accept is genuine," he told Edwards.

"I am of the firm view that the combination of being forced to confront your wrong-doing in a very public way, your seeking of professional help and the supportive blanket which that and the input of probation will provide, within a suspended prison sentence with requirements, will rehabilitate you and thus strike the balance between public protection and rehabilitation."

More charities have released statements reacting to the sentencing of Huw Edwards.

Rani Govender, child safety online policy manager at the NSPCC, says: "Online child sexual abuse is at record levels and offenders like Edwards who fuel this crime should be in no doubt about its severity and the impact it has on victims.

"Companies must also act by putting technology in place that can identify and disrupt child abuse images being shared on their messaging services so victims can be safeguarded and offenders prosecuted."

The Internet Watch Foundation, which works to stop the spread of child sexual abuse imagery online, says "this was a familiar, and entirely preventable, situation".

Interim chief executive Derek Ray-Hill says: "There are thousands of people committing offences like Edwards', and there is currently nothing to prevent this. Those exact images, as it stands, could still be in circulation on WhatsApp, sent again and again undetected.

"As the regulator, Ofcom needs to utilise the full strength of the Online Safety Act and compel companies to use their best endeavours to prevent images from circulating in end-to-end encrypted environments."