Looking pale, with dark sunglasses covering his eyes, Huw Edwards cut a grim and solitary figure as he arrived at court to plead guilty to child pornography charges.
It was 2024 and the nation was still reeling from the allegations that the BBC’s lead newsreader and trusted figurehead had paid for horrific child abuse images.
Handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, the broadcaster swiftly disappeared from public view to live an isolated existence with his elderly mother in Wales.
But things took a turn in June this year, when he sensationally re-emerged on the blogging platform Substack. Defiant and self-pitying, Edwards believed his voice must be heard.
In the three months since starting his blog, the 65-year-old has amassed 1,000 subscribers and published 32 posts – some reflecting on his own life, others exploring Welsh topics.
He’s even dabbled in poetry, writing in Welsh in a poem called ‘Knowing’, a tribute to his late father: ‘Defenceless son, in the throes of pain, staring in darkness for signs of truth.’
Now, with his two-year suspended prison sentence being spent today, Edwards has published his most controversial post yet.
Hoping for a swell of sympathy, perhaps, and keen to lay the groundwork for a larger-scale comeback, Edwards argued that public responses to his crimes had not been ‘proportionate’.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July 2024, Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to child pornography charges
The BBC’s former lead newsreader was given a six-month suspended sentence, suspended for two years
Accompanied by a picture of himself outside court in September 2024, Edwards wrote: ‘Two years have gone by since my sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court… The period of rehabilitation – involving regular meetings with police and probation officers, with therapists and psychiatrists – is officially over.’
‘On paper, then, my sentence is now spent. But thanks to my public profile — and the virulent media coverage, much of it false or misleading — it is a sentence for life. Is that proportionate? I will let you decide.’
Edwards’s tone-deaf post comes after sources close to him told me he’s developed a startling ‘arrogance’ and ‘lack of self-awareness’ since finding his new audience online.
Not only that, but he truly believes he’ll be able to ‘rebuild his career’.
‘Huw is a loose cannon,’ said my insider. ‘He has been drip-feeding information through his Substack, and things will only get worse now that his sentence is spent.
‘Reaching 1,000 subscribers has fed his ego. He has no self-awareness.
‘He has told those closest to him he is writing a book “telling his story”. He is enjoying putting his thoughts down on paper and would have full control if he self-published.
‘It doesn’t help that his close friends want to see him back out in public and are supporting his decision to rebuild his career.
‘Like him, they probably think all is forgiven now his sentence is spent.’
Although Edwards and his supporters are apparently ready for his attempt to return to the public stage, child-abuse campaigners have called it ‘sickening’, while several of his old BBC colleagues have severed ties with him.
Readers will remember how the scandal unfolded in July 2023, when a red-top newspaper published a story in which a mother claimed an unnamed BBC presenter had paid their child for explicit photos.
Days later, Edwards’s TV-producer wife of 30 years, Vicky Flind, mother to his five children, issued a statement identifying her husband as the presenter, claiming he was suffering ‘serious mental health issues’.
He was arrested in November that year, although the public weren’t informed, and he stayed at the BBC until April 2024 when he claimed he resigned over his ‘mental health’.
Edwards’s fate was sealed in July 2024 when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to receiving 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine, from paedophile Alex Williams.
Edwards refused to hand back the £200,000 salary he was paid by the BBC between his arrest in November 2023 and his resignation in April 2024.
His career and marriage – his wife filed for divorce in October 2024 – were destroyed by the fallout from the scandal. Today, the Daily Mail can reveal that Edwards has been unable to sell his former family home despite it being listed for two years.
The six-bed property in Dulwich, south-east London, which was being marketed by estate agents Pedder (which didn’t respond to requests for comment), has barely had any interest since going on the market two years ago. Now Edwards has withdrawn it from sale.
Leading estate agent David Votta – an ex-president of the industry’s top watchdog Propertymark – warned that the house has a ‘stigma’ and is a ‘seriously hard sell’ because of Edwards’s conviction.
‘You’d have an easier time selling a haunted house right now than one owned by someone like Edwards,’ he said.
As for his comeback, Edwards wrote on Substack on September 11: ‘This project [blogging] has given me hope when I believed there was none to be had. I am grateful for the encouragement to write and express opinions on a broad range of issues, as I am for the kindness and support which have formed a true lifeline.’
‘When I clicked “publish” on that very first post, I was scared. I spent weeks fighting the inner voice telling me that no one would be interested; even worse, that no one would think I had the right to speak.
‘What has struck me these past weeks is how different it feels to build something from nothing, alone, and to watch thoughtful people choose it deliberately. You have done so despite the horrible circumstances in which my broadcasting career ended, and despite the hostile response in some quarters to the very existence of my voice.’
Surprisingly, the vast majority of comments on Edwards’s Substack are positive.
One particularly gushing fan called Cath commented: ‘It was so difficult watching TV news footage of you during those days at court. The Press hounding you. I hope you now find a peace and that at least some of the awful pressure you have been under for so long is lifting. God bless.’
Now those loyal subscribers will be eagerly anticipating how Edwards will return to the public eye.
Vicky Flind, Huw’s wife of 30 years, said in July 2023 that her husband was dealing with ‘serious mental health issues’
Huw pleaded guilty to receiving 41 indecent images of children, which included two sexual videos of a boy under nine, from paedophile Alex Williams (pictured)
Huw was working with publicist Barry Tomes (right), who stopped working with him as he claimed the presenter would not listen to him and was ‘getting it all wrong’
In March, Edwards hired publicist Barry Tomes, who has decades of experience in the industry representing the likes of The Beach Boys, to help him navigate the public backlash following a Channel 5 drama starring Martin Clunes about the disgraced presenter.
Although Tomes and Edwards parted ways – after Tomes claimed the presenter would not listen to him and was ‘getting it all wrong’ – this week Tomes told me about the range of opportunities he believes will resurface for Edwards in the coming weeks.
‘I am confident that he will be given the opportunity to speak out on national television,’ Tomes said.
‘All of the major TV channels, including Good Morning Britain and BBC production companies offered interviews following the Channel 5 series.
‘They will no doubt come knocking again when his sentence is spent. The channels would make money from such a big interview, so they will all want it.
‘One company ridiculously offered him a TV series with him visiting areas in Wales, either camping or staying in different bed and breakfasts. I thought that was ridiculous.’
Tomes did not approve of Edwards launching his Substack.
Edwards previously told the Daily Mail that he plans to tell his side of the story when the time is right, including his mental health struggles.
He has since explained on Substack: ‘The criminal justice system — whatever police or prosecutors say — tends not to make meaningful allowances for people whose crimes were committed when they were mentally impaired.
‘I will explain in a future post — after my conviction becomes spent on 16 September — my reasons for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, and the searing experience of dealing with the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
‘I had never given too much thought to the concept of hatred until my life fell apart with catastrophic results.’
Edwards is clearly yearning to tell his side of the story. Only time will tell if anyone actually wants to hear it.
