The wife of newsreader Huw Edwards has said he is “suffering from serious mental health issues” and is receiving “in-patient hospital care” as she named him as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images.
Following days of speculation as to the identity of the BBC presenter at the centre of the allegations, Vicky Flind said in a statement that she was speaking out on her husband’s behalf.
In a statement released to the PA news agency, Ms Flind said: “In light of the recent reporting regarding the ‘BBC Presenter’, I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.
“I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental wellbeing and to protect our children.
“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 added: “In the circumstances and given Huw’s condition, I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.
“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.”
Sources have made it clear to PA that Edwards, 61, has not resigned.
The presenter, who has been off air since late last week, has been the face of the BBC’s electoral and royal coverage over the years, notably last year announcing the death of the late Queen.
The Welsh journalist and broadcaster has previously spoken about his mental health, telling BBC Radio Cymru in 2019 that he was “mentally in the wrong place” when he was physically “unhealthy”.
He also revealed in a documentary in 2021 he had bouts of depression which have left him “bedridden” since 2002.
Father of five Edwards is the BBC’s highest paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £435,000 – £439,999, up from £410,000 – £414,000 last year, putting him fourth on the top 10 list, the corporation’s annual report revealed on Tuesday.
In May, the BBC announced that Edwards would be among the presenting line-up for the Proms this year, and at the end of June he was among the team to pick up the best live event honour at the Tric awards for coverage of the state funeral of the late Queen on 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, comes as the Metropolitan Police said no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter.
The force said: “Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.
“In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family, both via another police force. There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.”
The statement added: “We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time.”
I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation— Vicky Flind, wife of Huw Edwards
The BBC said in a statement the corporation was “grateful” to the Met Police for “completing this work at speed”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The police had previously asked us to pause our fact-finding investigations and we will now move forward with that work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts, whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved.”
Last week, The Sun newspaper first reported allegations against an unnamed presenter, saying the presenter had paid a young person tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images.
In a statement following the naming of Edwards by his wife, The Sun said it had “no plans to publish further allegations” and that it will “cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process”.
A spokesperson for the paper said: “The allegations published by The Sun were always very serious. Further serious allegations have emerged in the past few days.
“It is right that the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team continues to investigate these thoroughly and deals with them in the way that they think is appropriate.”
The statement added: “We must also re-emphasise that The Sun at no point in our original story alleged criminality and also took the decision neither to name Mr Edwards nor the young person involved in the allegations.”
The publication went on to say: “From the outset, we have reported a story about two very concerned and frustrated parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and payments from him that fuelled the drug habit of a young person.
“We reported that the parents had already been to the police who said that they couldn’t help. The parents then made a complaint to the BBC which was not acted upon. It is now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
On July 9, the BBC issued an update to staff and the media and confirmed it had suspended the unnamed presenter.
BBC presenter Jeremy Vine said on his Channel 5 TV show on Wednesday that the presenter at the centre of the BBC controversy needed to “come forward”.
Former BBC News North America editor Jon Sopel sent his best wishes to Edwards after saying earlier on Wednesday that he did not agree the then-anonymous presenter should come forward, saying on his The News Agents podcast: “I think that whoever the presenter is needs to work it out himself, I cannot begin to imagine the sort of pressure, the sort of anguish, turmoil that is going on in his life.”
Sopel later tweeted: “This is an awful and shocking episode, where there was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life.
“That doesn’t feel very private now. I hope that will give some cause to reflect. They really need to. I wish @thehuwedwards well.”
He added: “Dear @BBCRadio4 @BBCNews, Well done on handling the breaking news about @thehuwedwards and the fact that he’s now being treated in hospital – but to then straight off back of that into a report on him facing fresh allegations of misconduct? That was just terrible.”
