Suspended BBC star Huw Edwards is facing fresh claims he sent BBC colleagues "inappropriate messages" as the broadcaster resumed its investigation into the presenter at the centre of the sex photo scandal.
The new claims - which followed the naming of the presenter by his wife on Wednesday night - come from two current and a former BBC worker, who said they had received “inappropriate” messages from Mr Edwards on social media, according to BBC Newsnight.
The former employee said they had never met the presenter but received messages from him on social media, “some late at night and signed off with kisses”, which they said they believed was an “abuse of power”.
Huw Edwards has been accused of sending BBC staff “inappropriate messages”— (PA Archive)
One of the current staffers said Mr Edwards sent a private message to them on social media, commenting on their physical appearance, which gave them a “cold shudder”.
While the other current BBC employee said Mr Edwards had sent them “inappropriate messages”, which had left them feeling uncomfortable and award. “There is a power dynamic that made them inappropriate,” they told the BBC.
Two of the three 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 BBC has resumed its investigation into Mr Edwards after pausing the probe upon request of the Metropolitan Police, so the force could conduct its own investigation into allegations Mr Edwards paid a young person for sexually explicit images.
After the Met concluded there was no information to indicate that a criminal offence had been committed, the broadcaster said: “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.”
It comes after Vicky Flind said her husband, who is still suspended by the BBC, was suffering from serious mental health issues and was now in hospital, “where he will stay for the foreseeable future”.
The statement 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.”
The Sun first published allegations on Friday that the then-unnamed presenter had paid a young person tens of thousands of pounds for explicit images.
The newspaper has now said it has no plans to publish further allegations and would cooperate 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.
In a message to staff, BBC director-general Tim Davie said that the corporation’s “immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved”— (Jacob King/PA Wire)
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.”
In a message to staff, BBC director-general Tim Davie said that the corporation’s “immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved”.
In his internal memo, 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.
The Sun’s Wednesday front page had run a story in which it claimed Mr Edwards, who had not been identified at that point, had also broken lockdown rules during the coronavirus pandemic in February 2021 to meet up with a 23-year-old, after meeting them on a dating website the previous November.
Separately, a 17-year-old alleged they were following the star on Instagram when he messaged them, using love hearts and kisses, reported The Sun on Tuesday.
In a different set of allegations, BBC News reported on Tuesday that a person in their early 20s has claimed they were sent threatening messages by Mr Edwards after meeting the presenter on a dating app.
Mr Edwards allegedly revealed his identity and asked the young person not to tell anyone, but the young person later posted online alluding to having had contact with a BBC presenter and hinting they might name him.
The presenter is accused of then sending a number of “threatening messages” which the BBC said it had seen. The BBC said the young person felt “threatened” by the messages and “remain scared”.
BBC News said it had contacted the presenter via his lawyer but had received no response to the allegations.
Father-of-five Mr 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.
The statement from Mr Edwards’ wife, a TV producer who has worked on Robert Peston’s ITV programme, said that once the presenter is 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.”
The Independent has approached the BBC for comment on the fresh allegations.
