BBC director-general Tim Davie has sent a message to staff at the BBC after the revelation that top newsreader Huw Edwards in the star suspended amid allegations of paying a teenager for sexual images.
In a memo to BBC staff Mr Davie said that the corporation’s “immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved”. His statement came after Huw Edward's wife, Vicky Flind, issued a statement saying that Huw was the man at the centre of the scandal.
Mr Davie said the words from Ms Flind were “a reminder that the last few days have seen personal lives played out in public”.
“At the heart of this are people and their families,” his message said.
“This will no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days. I want to reassure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved.”
Mr Davie also referenced an earlier request from the Metropolitan Police asking the corporation to pause its internal investigation, saying: “It is important we now continue with this work.
“I want to be clear that in doing so we will follow due process.”
The full message read: "Dear all, I wanted to write following this evening’s statements from the family of Huw Edwards and the police.
"Many of you will have read the words of Vicky Flind, Huw’s wife. It is a reminder that the last few days have seen personal lives played out in public. At the heart of this are people and their families. This will no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days. I want to reassure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved.
"Also this afternoon, the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police confirmed they would be taking no further action following an assessment of information provided to them.
"As you know, we were asked to pause our fact finding investigations until that assessment had been concluded. It is important we now continue with this work. I want to be clear that in doing so we will follow due process.
"This remains a very complex set of circumstances. As we have done throughout, our aim must be to navigate through this with care and consideration, in line with the BBC Values.
"In light of media reports in recent days, I want to be absolutely clear that if anyone has any queries or concerns or would like to pass information to us then please email Support at Work. Thank you and best wishes."
Vicky Flind said her husband is receiving in-patient hospital care as she named him as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images. Ms Flind, said her husband was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and was now receiving treatment in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.
It comes as the Metropolitan Police said no criminal offence had been committed by Edwards and that no further police action would be taken “at this time”, allowing an internal BBC investigation to resume.
After Edwards was named as the presenter at the centre of the allegations, multiple BBC colleagues and high-profile media personalities spoke out to support him. Meanwhile on Wednesday evening, BBC Newsnight reported new claims from one current and one former BBC worker, who said they had received “inappropriate messages” from Edwards, “some late at night and signed off with kisses”.
Both said there was “a reluctance among junior staff to complain to managers about the conduct of high-profile colleagues in case it adversely affected their careers,” Newsnight said. The Sun, which first reported allegations against the then unnamed presenter last week claiming they had paid a young person tens of thousands of pounds for explicit images, said it had no plans to publish further allegations and would co-operate with the BBC’s internal investigation process.
In Thursday’s edition, The Sun’s front page focuses on Ms Flind’s statement and the paper says Edwards is facing further claims from BBC colleagues over “suggestive messages” sent on social media.
One former editor of The Sun said the newspaper had “inflicted terror” on the newsreader “despite no evidence of any criminal offence” and now faced “a crisis”. David Yelland, who was in charge at the paper from 1998 to 2003, wrote on Twitter: “I wish @thehuwedwards well.
“The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence. This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected.
“Social media also needs speedy reform.”
The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter, and that no specific details or information about further allegations reported in the media had been provided to them. The Sun’s Wednesday front page had run a story in which it claimed Edwards, who had not been identified at that point, had also broken lockdown rules during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, to meet up with another young person.
The newspaper said it has seen messages which suggest he had travelled to see the 23-year-old in February 2021, after meeting them on a dating website the previous November. Father of five Edwards is the BBC’s highest paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £435,000–£439,999, putting him fourth on the top 10 list, the corporation’s annual report revealed on Tuesday.
The presenter was last seen on BBC One’s News At Ten on July 5 when he co-presented a special edition live from Edinburgh as the King was honoured in the Scottish capital – and sources have made it clear to PA that Edwards, 61, has not resigned from the BBC.
The statement from his wife, a TV producer who has worked on BBC’s This Week politics show and Robert Peston’s ITV programme, Peston, to the PA news agency said: “Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.
“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 that once the presenter, who has worked for the BBC for four decades, was well enough, he “intends to respond to the stories that have been published” and added that her husband was first told there were allegations “being made against him last Thursday”.
Ms Flind asked for privacy for the family and said: “I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end.”
In a statement on Twitter, Peston praised Ms Flind as “the kindest and most decent woman”.
“It has been difficult to feel what she and her family have been going through – and to read her statement that Huw has been hospitalised with acute depression,” he said.
Edwards has previously spoken about his mental health, revealing in a documentary in 2021 he had bouts of depression which have left him “bedridden” since 2002.
