Former Famous BBC Presenter Admits Guilty About Hundreds Of Children's Porn Videos

Wetminster, London, UK/UNSPLASH/Young Shih

JAKARTA - Former British TV presenter Huw Edwards, who has long been the star of the BBC's main news program, pleaded guilty to three counts related to child porn videos.

Edwards was the highest paid BBC journalist and leading news anchor until he stopped in April, following accusations he had paid thousands of pounds to a young man for porn photos/videos.

The 62-year-old has been famous in England for more than two decades, announcing Queen Elizabeth's death to the country in 2022 and leading election coverage, royal weddings, and the 2012 Olympics.

But he hasn't appeared on the TV screen for a year and his appearance in court on Wednesday, July 31st, ending his dramatic fall, was the first to appear in public since then.

Edwards walked past a crowd of photographers and camera crews to London's Westminstermen's Court. He admitted that he had been sent pornographic photos/videos of children between December 2020 and August 2021.

When asked if he wanted to file a defense against the three charges, which relate to three different categories of porn photos/videos, Edwards replied, "mistakeful."

Judge Paul Goldspring said Edwards would be sentenced on September 16 and all options, including prison sentences, will be considered.

During the 25-minute trial, prosecutor Ian Hope said Edwards was sent a total of 377 pornographic videos by an adult man on WhatsApp, 41 of which were videos of children.

Hope says seven of the 41 videos are the most serious type and two of the seven file submissions are porn videos of a child possibly between the ages of seven and nine.

The last indecent video was sent to Edwards in August 2021, when the man who sent it said "the man in the film looks quite young and he has more illegal videos", Hope said.

Prosecutors said Edwards told the man "not to send him illegal photos and no more to be sent from now on", although chats continue and more photos of legal pornography are sent.

Edwards' attorney, Philip Evans, stressed that the charges filed by his client for guilty confessions were only related to images sent to him via WhatsApp.

"There is no suspicion in this case that Edwards has made, in a traditional sense, any picture in any physical way or created any picture," said Evans.