Huw Edwards was suspended from the BBC last July after claims he’d paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos and has now he has resigned from his position

Huw Edwards has resigned from the BBC after taking medical advice, the broadcaster has confirmed.

The news anchor was suspended from the BBC last July after claims he’d paid a teen for sexually explicit photos. The Welshman was the BBC’s most high-profile news reporters, often selected to front coverage of major national events. The corporation said in a brief statement on Monday: “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. We don’t believe it appropriate to comment further.”

The BBC has since apologised to the family for the way the complaint was handled and said that safeguards need to be “enhanced” in order to allow complaints to be “escalated and managed” more effectively going forward. They apologised for not escalating the complaint to senior management more quickly.

The BBC say his resignation ‘will allow all parties to move forward’ (
Image:
BBC)

The BBC was the subject of a media frenzy last year when it was claimed that a big name presenter had allegedly paid a teenager more than £35,000 for inappropriate photos over a three-year period. It emerged that a family member had made an in-person complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter in May 2023.

The TV star’s loyal wife Vicky Flind named him as the man at the centre of the allegations in a statement issued on his behalf. It read: “In light of the recent reporting regarding the ‘BBC Presenter’ I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.

Promoted Stories

“I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children. Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.” Vicky said the events had “greatly worsened matters” and Edwards was receiving “in-patient hospital care” for the “foreseeable future” after another “serious episode”.

Last summer’s scandal saw Huw’s wife Vicky Flind eventually end the guessing games (
Image:
PA)
The complainant is said to have contacted the BBC, with the details then referred to the Corporate Investigations team. The Corporate Investigations team later emailed the complainant but received no reply. In July, The Sun informed the BBC press office about the claims and the broadcaster launched an “incident management group” of top executives.

A young person claimed through a lawyer that the claims were “rubbish”. Via a legal letter given to the BBC, the teenager involved in the complaint insisted nothing “unlawful” or “inappropriate” had happened with the presenter. Days later new allegations emerged of the same presenter sending threatening messages to a second young person. The star in question was then accused of breaking Covid lockdown rules to meet a 23-year-old from a dating site and, subsequently, a fourth young person claims the star sent them “creepy” messages on Instagram.

BBC Director General Tim Davie was forced to defend the delay in speaking to the BBC presenter and a day later on July 12 the police say they are “taking no further action”. On the same day, the presenter was revealed to be the big name star at the centre of the scandal by his wife.

In February, the Beeb publicly announced the results of a non-editorial complaints review, led by specialists Deloitte, which concluded that safeguards need to be ‘enhanced’ so that complaints can be ‘escalated and managed’ more effectively. BBC Group Chief Operating Officer Leigh Tavazia said: “The initial complaint in this case was not escalated quickly enough to senior management and we have apologised to the complainant for this.”