The wife of BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has revealed he is the star at the centre of a scandal involving sexually explicit images but has asked for privacy and said he is suffering from “serious mental health issues.”
Vicky Flind named the 61-year-old Welshman as the figure who was accused by The Sun of paying a teenager £35,000 over three years to pose for sexually explicit photos.
The Metropolitan Police has said Mr. Edwards did not appear to have committed any criminal offence as the young man was an adult at the time.
In her statement, Ms. Flind said her husband was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and was now “receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future” and she asked for privacy for her five children.
BBC stars including Gary Lineker, Nicky Campbell, Rylan Clark, and Jeremy Vine have all been forced to publicly deny they are the person in question.
The presenter was suspended on Sunday after The Sun reported last week that he paid a teenager more than £35,000 over three years to pose for sexually explicit photos, beginning when the youth was 17 years old.
‘No Further Police Action’
They added: “In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family, both via another police force. There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.”“We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time,” the statement added.
It concluded: “Should evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues be identified at any point we would expect matters to be referred to the relevant police force.”
The BBC said on Tuesday it had received a complaint from a member of the young person’s family about the presenter in May, but Director-General Tim Davie was first informed of the allegations seven weeks later.
Mr. Davie told reporters this was because the investigations team had failed to get in touch with the complainant and could not verify the claims.
The director-general said he has ordered a review to “assess how some complaints are red-flagged up the organisation.”
On Tuesday night BBC Radio 2 presenter Mr. Vine wrote on Twitter that the presenter should come forward to spare others who were being wrongly accused.
On his Channel 5 TV show on Wednesday, Mr. Vine said: “I know the individual concerned. I am very worried about his state of mind and what this is doing to him.”
Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid appeared to disagree with what Mr. Vine wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Edwards is one of the most well-known faces on British television.
He has presented the BBC’s News at Ten for several years and regularly fronts election coverage, Royal events, and documentaries about Welsh history.
Mr. Edwards is reportedly the fourth highest-paid presenter at the BBC, pocketing a salary of around £435,000 a year.
