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7 months ago
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Huw Edwards was allegedly warned by the BBC about his online conduct two years before the scandal that led to him being taken off air, a report has claimed.
The Welsh newsreader, 62, who has been off air since last July after he was accused of paying a young person for sexually explicit images, was spoken to about his behaviour on two separate occasions in 2021 and 2022, according to The Times.
The first meeting reportedly came following a complaint from a woman, who was in her 40s at the time, in May 2021 where she requested Edwards stop messaging her online, which prompted bosses to speak to Huw 'about his actions'.
However, the pair remained in contact, prompting a second complaint from the same woman in January 2022, the newspaper added.
A month later on February 23, a senior BBC manager allegedly spoke to Huw again about his behaviour advising that 'further concerns had been raised' and any contact 'should now cease'. Despite this, the pair allegedly continued to talk over email.
Huw Edwards was allegedly warned by the BBC about his online conduct two years before the scandal that led to him being taken off air
Edwards, pictured with his mother, has been off air since last July after he was accused of paying a young person for sexually explicit images
The Welsh newsreader, 62, was allegedly spoken to about his behaviour by BBC bosses on two separate occasions in 2021 and 2022. Pictured: BBC Broadcasting House, in central London
The woman began messaging Edwards privately on Instagram in 2018, according to a BBC report which has been seen by The Times.
She lodged a complaint against Edwards in May 2021, with the newsreader supposedly informed about it by BBC managers 'within hours'.
Bosses spoke to him about 'his actions and his social media use', The Times reports, and told him to stop messaging her.
After the meeting, the woman reportedly retracted her complaint after being contacted by the star.
The woman then lodged another complaint in January 2022, but again she subsequently retracted it after being contacted by Edwards.
A month later, bosses had a meeting with Huw about the incident on February 23, 2022, in which a senior 'member of News leadership advised that further concerns had been raised and that contact with you should now cease.'
Despite this the pair allegedly continued speaking to each other via email.
The claims reportedly came to light following an internal BBC investigation into its handling of both complaints.
A summary of its findings supposedly admitted the meeting with Huw in February 2022 'could have been conducted more formally'.
Huw Edwards was last seen on the screen on July 5 last year when he covered King Charles' visit to Scotland (pictured). Nine months on he has left the BBC on health grounds
The broadcaster, 62, announced that the Queen had died in September 2022
In a statement released by Mr Edward's wife Vicky Flind last year, she said that he was receiving in-patient hospital care following the claims first reported in The Sun that he paid a teenager for explicit photographs
The BBC also told The Times: 'More generally, when dealing with non-editorial complaints we have longstanding and robust processes in place.
'We will always seek to handle any such issues with care, fairness and sensitivity to everyone concerned, but, as we have set out, there will always be a limit to what can be said or shared about such processes.'
The Times said Edwards lawyers were 'unable to comment on these unsubstantiated allegations'.
It comes as earlier this week, Edwards resigned from his £439,000-a-year job at the corporation because of 'medical advice' from his doctors.
The BBC said that its star anchor, who broke the news of Queen Elizabeth II's death and presented coverage of most major national events including elections and the Coronation, has left the BBC on health grounds.
There was no mention of allegations he sent more than £35,000 to a teenager in return for sexually explicit photographs.
A corporation spokesman said: 'Huw Edwards has today resigned and left the BBC. After 40 years of service, Huw has explained that his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors.
'The BBC has accepted his resignation which it believes will allow all parties to move forward'.
Edwards has never publicly commented in the nine months since he was suspended. MailOnline understands he received no pay off from the BBC - but had been paid his £439,000-a-year salary while he was suspended.
He left with immediate effect - but is not known if the BBC's internal workplace investigation into whether Edwards brought the broadcaster into disrepute was completed.
A mocked up version of a reported Instagram message exchange between the BBC star and a teenager
In February, the BBC apologised to the young person's family, who'd complained about Edwards two months before he was suspended, acknowledging that there had been 'shortcomings' in the way it had dealt with the case as it reviewed its complaints procedures.
Huw was named by his own wife as the BBC star accused of paying £35,000 to a vulnerable teenager in return for explicit photographs - minutes after Scotland Yard dropped their probe into the allegations last year.
There had been a frenzy of speculation about the identity of the star. Gary Lineker and Jeremy Vine had felt obliged to deny that they were the man in question.
Vicky Flind then issued the shock statement and revealed her husband, who was last on screen on July 5 last year during the King's visit to Scotland, was 'suffering from serious mental health issues' following the claims that emerged in The Sun the following day.
Vicky and Huw have five grown up children, brought up together in south London.
The Mail revealed this month that Huw has taken sanctuary in his beloved Wales and is being comforted in Carmarthenshire by his mother Aerona.
Huw was the corporation's highest paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £435,000 - £439,999 in the year 2022/2023, according to the corporation's most recent annual report.
This was up from £410,000 - £414,000 the year before, putting him fourth on the 2022/23 list.
TV executive and former Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive of ITN, Stewart Purvis, said: 'Huw Edwards has been paid half a million pounds a year to do nothing, I don't think that situation could have continued any longer.
'They're saying that it's at the request of Huw Edwards but there will be relief across the BBC that this situation has been resolved because frankly it has become embarrassing for the BBC quite how long it was taking to sort it out.
He continued: 'Looking at the high, high profile of Huw Edwards, looking at all the other knock-on issues, for instance, who is going to present the BBC's election night programme?'.
He said Huw's departure was a 'successful outcome for what has been an extraordinarily damaging saga for the BBC.
'You can't have the fact one of the most trusted men in Britain turns out really to not be worthy of that trust.'
The newsreader has been off air since last July after reports claiming he paid a young person for sexually explicit images
Huw's exit came as the BBC has a busy year of news which includes several elections, huge sporting events and the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Incoming BBC chairman Samir Shah, made this point to MPs ahead of his appointment last year.
He said: 'Next year is likely to be election year. It is BBC journalism's World Cup . . . We need to be match fit. We need to have figured out everything from studio debates to allocation of airtime.'
Clive Myrie, 59, has been tipped as the news presenter who could front the BBC's election coverage and succeed Edwards as the News at Ten anchor.
Sophie Raworth, Laura Kuenssberg and Nick Robinson are also in contention to host election night.
He was accused of sending cash to a teenager in return for sexual photographs over three years. The teen is alleged to have use it to fund a crack cocaine habit.
The Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police both said that no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter in this case.
Edwards, who had reportedly receiving his full £439,000 salary until announcing his resignation, had seemed more accomplished than ever in the months preceding his suspension, earning lavish plaudits for his commentary on Queen Elizabeth's funeral.
There were even calls for him to be knighted.
Declaring that the idea 'embarrassed' him, Edwards prepared with trademark rigour for his role leading the BBC's coronation coverage. 'I'd be lying if I said I didn't practise in my own mind,' he explained.
'I'm often on the Tube thinking, 'What would I say if this happened?' or, 'What's the best turn of phrase for this?'
He also took care to ensure that he was in peak physical condition, resuming the punishing boxing sessions that saw him shed three stone in 2019 under the supervision of former light welterweight champion, Clinton McKenzie.
'I am going to have to lose a stone, no question,' said Edwards, who, aside from his BBC salary, raked in £25,000 in a single month in 2022 from speaking engagements. 'I am just a bit too tight around the waist.'
But it was Ms Flind, with whom Edwards has five children, now all adults, who stepped forward in July last year.
By then, the identity of the unnamed BBC presenter had inspired such a firestorm of speculation that Gary Lineker and Jeremy Vine felt obliged to deny that they were the man in question.
Edwards, who was born in Bridgend and brought up in Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984. Pictured on the six o'clock news in 1999
Edwards, a married father-of-five, worked at the BBC for four decades. He has spoken openly about his mental health and getting fitter in recent years
The presenter shared with BBC Radio Cymru that he had lost weight in 2019
The details of the vulnerable teenager alleged to be addicted to crack appeared in The Sun.
After that three more people made allegations against the broadcaster.
The well-known presenter allegedly began paying the teenager and sent them the money which they used to fund a drug addiction.
The child's mother, who first made the shocking allegations in May last year, told the Sun she felt 'sick' whenever she sees the man on TV.
The star was said to have requested 'performances' from the individual, who told their mother they would then 'get their bits out'.
A formal complaint was made to the BBC by the family.
The young person at the centre of the controversy said via a lawyer, according to the BBC, that nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened with the unnamed presenter.
However, their mother told The Sun they stood by the claims.
A bombshell second claim then emerged when the same presenter was accused of sending abusive and menacing messages to a person in their 20s.
The second individual claimed to have been contacted anonymously by the male presenter on a dating app.
They claim they were put under pressure to meet with the star but never did, the BBC reported.
When they hinted online that they might name them, they alleged they were sent abusive messages that were filled with expletives.
BBC News reported the young person felt 'threatened' by the messages and 'remains scared'.
Mr Edwards enjoys a coffee and a pastry with his dog in April last year near his south London home
The star was then branded a 'complete hypocrite' for allegedly breaking Covid rules to meet a 23-year-old stranger from a dating site.
He was accused of defying the third national lockdown for an encounter with a young person in 2021 while the BBC was at the same time telling millions of people to follow the rules as part of its coverage of the pandemic.
The third person said they met up after months of interactions, and that the presenter sent them £650 in cash and asked them for a picture, The Sun reported.
They claimed the presenter travelled into a different county to meet them at their flat in February 2021 when rules included a stay at home order and mixing only between household bubbles.
The person claimed at the meeting, which came months after they started talking on the dating site in November 2020, 'he came round for an hour.... We just chatted. He was obsessed with me making him a cup of tea.'
MailOnline has contacted The BBC for comment regarding The Times article.
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