.png)
3 months ago
21
Broadcaster Nicky Campbell has branded his ex-BBC colleague Huw Edwards 'disgusting' and urged people to consider the 'callously exploited and psychologically destroyed' child victims.
Edwards, 62, today pleaded guilty to receiving 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine.
His former colleague Campbell took to social media to slam Edwards and the other 'disgusting men' involved in the swapping and trading of child pornography.
Campbell, 63, has previously revealed how he and his fellow classmates at a top private school were sexually abused by teachers when they were just children in the 1970s.
Campbell said he was even molested in front of his class by a history teacher at the £17,500-a-year Edinburgh Academy.
After Edwards appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court today, Campbell wrote on X, formerly Twitter: 'Let's think about the children in these images. Callously exploited and psychologically destroyed.
'They are not images. They are humans who will live with this forever and all for the twisted pleasure of the disgusting men who trade and swap this misery.'
Broadcaster Nicky Campbell (pictured) has branded his ex-BBC colleague Huw Edwards 'disgusting'
Campbell wrote on X, formerly Twitter: 'Let's think about the children in these images. Callously exploited and psychologically destroyed'
Huw Edwards, 62, (pictured) today pleaded guilty to receiving 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine
In a separate tweet broadcaster Campbell wrote: 'And if mental health was mitigation for every custodial crime the prisons wouldn't be at bursting point. They'd be half full.'
It comes a year after Campbell voiced compassion for Edwards after he was named by his wife as the presenter at the centre of the scandal involving payments for sexually explicit images.
During his BBC Radio 5 Live show last July, which was titled Huw Edwards: Did The Sun Get It Wrong?, Campbell said: 'What a saga this all is. It's been very tough to cover here, obviously.
'Our thoughts have to be with all those who have suffered, the family who have suffered and Huw Edwards of course.'
Edwards was only exposed as a paedophile after Welsh detectives investigating another sex offender uncovered the BBC star's number in a depraved WhatsApp chat, MailOnline revealed earlier today.
The disgraced news reader - who helmed royal and political events at the BBC before resigning in April - was only exposed by chance by cops in Wales.
Detectives stumbled onto the household-named star while investigating another paedophile, 25-year-old Alex Williams from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
When officers from South Wales Police seized Williams' phone, they uncovered a vile WhatsApp chat full of child pornography - which father-of-five Edwards was involved in.
A Met spokesman said: 'The investigation into Huw Edwards began in November 2023 after information was received from South Wales Police.
'An examination of a phone seized by South Wales officers as part of an entirely unrelated investigation had revealed Edwards' participation in a WhatsApp conversation.
'There was no connection between this investigation and the matters reviewed in July 2023.
'One other person was charged in relation to the messages shared via WhatsApp.
'He is Alex Williams, 25, of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Williams pleaded guilty to seven offences following an investigation by South Wales Police.'
Edwards was arrested on November 8, 2023 before being charged on June 26 with three counts of receiving indecent images.
Seven of the pictures were category 'A' images of the very worst kind. This included two moving images of a young boy, possibly aged between seven and nine years old.
Disgraced former BBC News reader Edwards is pictured leaving Westminster Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to receiving indecent images of children
Edwards made his way through the media melee before being driven away in a black Mercedes
He also had photos of other children aged between 13 and 15 stored on his phone that were classed as Category A.
Williams, who was in a chat with Edwards, was sentenced to a total of 12 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years following a March 15 hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.
So what is 'making an image'?
The court's interpretation of 'making' indecent images is broad and can confuse those outside the legal profession.
Simply opening an email attachment, downloading an indecent image or storing it on a device can constitute an offence. Zita Spencer, partner at Olliers Solicitors, said: 'Making means creating it on your device. People can get it confused with 'production', which is actually taking the photo itself.'
It is not necessary to have intentionally saved an indecent image to a device to be found guilty. Ms Spencer said Edwards would have had a defence had he been sent the images unsolicited and immediately deleted them.
Edwards, whose marriage and journalistic career have now been destroyed, will find out his fate during a sentencing hearing in September.
News of the disgraced broadcaster's offences came to light in a bombshell statement by the Met on Monday.
Police on Wednesday admitted the details of his charges were only revealed this week after a journalist spotted Edwards' name listed in a court document.
Prior to that, the Met had planned to release a statement on Tuesday.
But legal experts and a former detective have argued the Met should have released a statement of the father-of-five's crimes as soon as he was charged, with the London force now being accused of 'secrecy' surrounding the probe.
The scandal came little more than a year after Edwards paid a young person for sexually explicit images in an unrelated incident - with Metropolitan Police detectives at the time insisting there was 'no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed' in this case.
The Met Police is now facing a backlash over the alleged 'secrecy' surrounding the child porn investigation into Edwards and why his crimes weren't revealed sooner.
English (US)