FILE - A view of the main entrance to the headquarters of the publicly funded BBC in London, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Senior British politicians on Sunday, July 9, 2023 called on the BBC to rapidly investigate a complaint that a leading presenter paid a teenager for explicit photos. The publicly funded national broadcaster is under pressure after The Sun newspaper reported allegations that the male presenter gave a youth 35,000 pounds ($45,000) starting in 2020 when the young person was 17. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
LONDON (AP) – There’s no evidence a BBC presenter who allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos committed a crime, London police said Wednesday as the broadcaster’s wife publicly identified him for the first time as veteran news anchor Huw Edwards.
Metropolitan police said it made its decision after speaking with the alleged victim and that person’s parents. The parents had complained to The Sun newspaper last week that the BBC had allowed the presenter to remain on air after they told the broadcaster in May that he paid the youth 35,000 pounds ($45,000) starting in 2020 when the person was 17.
As the scandal remained atop the news all week, colleagues at the BBC had called for the unnamed presenter to come forward.
It was only late Wednesday that his wife, Vicky Flind, issued a statement identifying Edwards. She said her husband was suffering from serious mental health issues and was hospitalized.
Flind said after “five extremely difficult days for our family” she was naming him “primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.”
“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,” she said.
Edwards, 61, is one of Britain’s best-known and most authoritative news broadcasters, lead anchor on the BBC’s nighttime news and the face of its election coverage. He led BBC coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September. He’s among the broadcaster’s best-paid stars, with an annual salary of at least 435,000 pounds ($565,000).
The U.K.’s publicly funded national broadcaster had not named Edwards, but said it had suspended a male star over the allegations. The BBC said it will continue its investigation into the matter.
A lawyer representing the young person in question, who was not named, told the BBC earlier this week that “nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality.” The lawyer said the allegations reported in The Sun were “rubbish.”
Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it is a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
