Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.
The former BBC News anchor appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning, where he admitted to having 41 indecent images of children.
According to the BBC, they included seven of the most serious category A images – and two clips showed a child as young as seven.
He was also charged with having 12 category B pictures and 19 category C pictures.
The court heard that the former newsreader had been in a WhatsApp chat from December 2020 with a man who sent 377 sexual images – 41 of which were indecent images of children.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the category A images mostly showed children aged between 13 and 15.
The final indecent image was sent in August of 2021, which was a category A film featuring a young boy.
The court heard that the other man in the chat told Edwards the boy looked quite young, and said he had more images which were illegal – to which Edwards replied telling him not to send anything illegal.
Edwards’ barrister, Philip Evans KC, told the court: “There’s no suggestion in this case that Mr Edwards has… in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort.”
He also said Edwards “did not keep any images, did not send any to anyone else and did not and has not sought similar images from anywhere else”.
He will be sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 September, where he could face jail time.
The former senior news presenter has been out of the spotlight since last year, after it was revealed he had been accused of paying for sexually explicit photos.
After the scandal broke in July 2023, Edwards’ wife said in a public statement that that her husband was receiving in-patient care for what she described as “serious mental health issues” following a “serious episode”.
Back in April, it was confirmed that Edwards had officially resigned from the BBC, with a spokesperson stating that “Huw has explained that his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors”.
In a statement to the BBC, The Metropolitan Police said the allegations in the current case were separate from the other claims.
“These allegations did not form part of the matter which was considered by police in July 2023,” a police spokespersons said. “They were investigated separately as a standalone case.”
