Huw Edwards has pled guilty during his first appearance in a U.K. criminal court on three charges of making indecent images of children.
On Wednesday morning, Edwards appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London to acknowledge the charges before Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring and a packed press gallery.
The former BBC news anchor, who was once one of the highest paid figures at the BBC, showed no emotion as he was led through Courtroom 1 and into the glass-panelled dock, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie. While he entered the courthouse in dark sunglasses, he had removed these before entering the court.
Edwards spoke only to give his name, date of birth and his partial U.K. address, to enter his plea for each charge and say he understood the bail conditions. His counsel requested that, in contravention of U.K. court tradition, Edwards should not read out his full address due to the “volatile” situation outside the court which included protests.
He nodded as the charges were read.
His lawyer explained how the images were sent to him via WhatsApp and automatically saved to his phone, despite his request to his WhatsApp sender — an adult male — to stop sending the images.
The maximum sentence is 10 years in prison.
The sentencing has been adjourned until September for a pre-sentence report. In the meantime, Edwards has been released on conditional bail.
The news anchor, who had spent 40 years at the BBC, resigned in April citing medical advice. He had been on a 10-month absence of leave at that point.
