Huw Edwards scandal: Timeline of how the events unfolded

Former newsreader Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty in court to three counts of making indecent images of children.

Those offences are separate from newspaper allegations last year that he paid a young person for explicit photos.

Until the claims emerged, the broadcaster was one of the most recognisable faces on British television, anchoring major national events like the general election and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. His career has now ended in disgrace.

Here’s a timeline of how the events unfolded:

Edwards engages in a WhatsApp chat with a man called Alex Williams, who begins sending the BBC star explicit images.

Williams sends 377 pictures and video clips over the next 16 months, including 41 of children. They include seven category A images, the most serious classification – two of which show abuse involving a child aged between about seven and nine.

On 2 February 2021, Williams asks whether what he’s sending is too young, to which Edwards responds telling him not to send any underage images, a court later heard.

The final indecent image of children is a category A film featuring a young boy sent in August 2021. Williams tells Edwards the boy is quite young looking, and he has more illegal images. Edwards tells him not to send any illegal images.

The Sun newspaper publishes a front-page story in which a mother claims an unnamed BBC presenter paid their child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos, which they used to fund a serious drug problem. She says this went on over three years, beginning in 2020 when their child was 17.

The parent had originally made a complaint to the BBC in May 2023, but it was only brought to the attention of senior managers – and Edwards himself – on 6 July.

Edwards is not named in the Sun article, sparking several days of frenzied speculation about the presenter’s identity.

Privately, BBC managers know he is the presenter involved, suspend him on full pay, and make contact with the Metropolitan Police.

These allegations are not related to Edwards’ WhatsApp exchanges with Alex Williams, which are not public knowledge at this stage.

The lawyer representing the young person at the centre of the tabloid story disputes their mother’s account, saying “the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish”.

Edwards’ wife names him as the BBC presenter at the centre of the high-profile Sun allegations.

She says he’s “suffering from serious mental health issues” and receiving in-patient hospital care.

Simultaneously, the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police say they have found no evidence of criminal offences in relation to the allegations at the heart of the Sun stories. The BBC says it will resume an internal investigation.

Just before his name was revealed, there were more allegations of inappropriate behaviour. The Sun reported that the still unnamed presenter broke lockdown to meet a 23-year-old from a dating app, sent them cash, asked for a picture, and was sent a semi-naked photo.

BBC News reported that someone in their early 20s says the presenter contacted them on a dating app and that they were later sent threatening messages. Also, three current and former BBC staff members claimed they were sent messages that made them uncomfortable.

Edwards is arrested after a phone seized during an unrelated investigation reveals his participation in the WhatsApp exchanges with Williams.

A small number of senior BBC figures are made aware that Edwards has been arrested on suspicion of serious offences.

He remains suspended and the arrest is not made public.

The internal “fact finding disciplinary investigation” that the BBC started after the Sun allegations concludes, and a “confidential disciplinary process” begins. It’s not known whether this was before or after his arrest over the separate charges.

The BBC announces that it has apologised to the family of the young person involved in the Sun story, as part of a report commissioned in its aftermath.

It also apologises that the initial complaint was not “escalated quickly enough”.

Alex Williams, 25, who sent Edwards pictures of abuse on WhatsApp, receives a 12-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children as well as possessing prohibited images of children.

Edwards is charged with three counts of making indecent images of children in relation to the WhatsApp exchanges with Williams.

The charges are not made public at this stage.

The BBC’s annual report reveals that Edwards received a salary of £475,000-£479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024 – an increase of £40,000 on the previous year.

The director general says the rise was agreed before any allegations arose and is partly due to natural pay progression, and partly because of “extended responsibility” such as presenting coverage of the King’s coronation in May 2023.

Edwards pleads guilty to the charges during a 26-minute hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Speaking in Edwards’ defence, his barrister Philip Evans KC said: “Mr 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.”

Mr Evans says the defendant has “both mental and physical” health issues.

Prosecutors tell the court a suspended sentence might be considered.

Meanwhile, the BBC faces serious questions over its handling of the case, and why it continued to pay Edwards his salary for five months after he was arrested.

Director General Tim Davie defends the decision not to sack Edwards, despite knowing he had been arrested in November over the most serious category of indecent images of children.

Edwards had not been charged at that point and it was still possible he would be cleared, Mr Davie says, explaining: “We thought long and hard about this. This wasn’t a kneejerk decision.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has what she calls “a very robust and frank discussion” with Mr Davie to raise concerns about how the BBC has handled the case. She also calls for Edwards to hand back the £200,000 he earned between his arrest and resignation.

And whistleblowers who gave evidence to the BBC’s internal inquiry say they are “disappointed” not to have heard more about its outcome.

The young person at the centre of the original newspaper allegations tells the Daily Mirror he feels “groomed” by Edwards.

Edwards is expelled from the Gorsedd of the Bards, one of the highest accolades in Welsh public life.

He becomes the first person to be stripped of the honour on account of wrongdoing.

It is also announced that the BBC would be keeping the Bafta it won for royal coverage in 2012.

It was for Edwards’ coverage of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s wedding the previous year.

Huw Edwards is asked by the BBC to hand back more than £200,000.

BBC Chair Samir Shah issues a letter to staff, saying the ex-presenter “behaved in bad faith” by continuing to take his salary despite knowing what he had done.

Edwards is given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted charges of making indecent images of children.

In July, the ex-newsreader admitted having 41 such images, which were sent to him on WhatsApp – including some showing a victim aged between seven and nine.

He is sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where he was also told to attend a sex offender treatment programme.

The BBC says: “We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”

Claire Brinton of the Crown Prosecution Service says: “Accessing indecent images of children perpetuates the sexual exploitation of them, which has deep, long-lasting trauma for these victims.

“The CPS and Metropolitan Police were able to prove that Edwards was receiving illegal images and videos involving children via WhatsApp.

“This prosecution sends a clear message that the CPS, working alongside the police, will work to bring to justice those who seek to exploit children, wherever that abuse takes place.”