Now the beleaguered BBC is facing fury from its own staff – after it emerged that Huw Edwards has not paid back the £200,000 doled out to him after being arrested in November 2023 for possessing indecent images of children. Last summer the former TV star pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at Westminster magistrates’ court. But it quickly transpired that not only had Edwards, one of the Beeb’s highest paid stars, received a £40,000 pay rise in the 12 months between March 2023-April 2024, he was paid a further £200,000 after his arrest – with BBC boss Tim Davies confirming last year that the corporation had been aware Edwards had been arrested over the most serious category of indecent images of children.
While the Beeb demanded Edwards return the six-figure sum over a year ago, the ex-presenter has still not done so. In a Freedom of Information response to the Sun, the broadcaster admitted:
Huw Edwards has not returned any money to him paid by the BBC after his arrest, in respect of any of his work for either BBC public service or the BBC’s commercial operations. The BBC has asked for all the money paid to Huw Edwards by the BBC for the period November 2023 (arrest) and April 2024 (resignation) to be returned.
And staff are not impressed that corporation chiefs have been unable to recoup the cash. One insider told the newspaper:
Everyone is raging about it – firstly at Huw, who is a disgrace, secondly that gutless bosses seem unwilling or unable to do anything about it.
Mr S would remind readers that, at the time, Davies defended Edwards’ £40,000 salary rise and defended he had been paid off, claiming:
No-one wants to waste a pound but we need to act proportionately and fairly and I think that’s what we did. Prior to any breaking of the (Edwards) story, people do get pay rises for extended responsibility and more hours’ work. So that’s fairly normal, and that’s what resulted in the change.
Dear oh dear. It’s yet another unpleasant twist in the whole sorry saga…
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