Huw Edwards should pay back £200K salary as it 'belongs to viewers', says BBC chairman

Disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards has been told to pay back his £200,000 BBC salary if he has an ounce of “moral rectitude”.

The former BBC news presenter, 64, became the centre of a grooming scandal in 2023 and a year later pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

BBC chair Dr Samir Shah told MPs the BBC has not “abandoned hope” of getting back the £200,000 and said it belongs to licence fee payers.

He told the Culture Committee: “I’ve already said that I think Huw Edwards ought to return the money, he hasn’t done so. I read that he’s seeking some kind of redemption.

“I think one very good step in that if he has an ounce of moral rectitude, he would return the money. He hasn’t done so, I think he should.”

Dr Shah said the money “belongs to the licence payer” and that “it does not belong to Huw Edwards.”

The BBC urged Edwards to return the £200,000 he was paid by the BBC between his arrest in November 2023 and resignation six months later.

He has since refused to hand part of his salary back.

Edwards was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, in 2024.

It emerged he had been sending thousands of pounds to a teenager for sexual images.

His grooming victim was just 17 when he was allegedly pressured into sending Edwards explicit content which he says led to him developing a drug addiction.

The veteran broadcaster had also secretly received indecent images and videos of children from a convicted paedophile, with some of the victims against just seven to nine years old.

Westminster magistrates court heard Edwards replied “any more” when sent some of the most serious abuse images. When it was suggested he could receive “naughty” videos from the same source, he replied: “Go on”.

He paid up to £1,500 to university student Alex Williams, who had sourced images on the Dark Web, and was sending legal pornographic pictures of young men and illegal images and videos of children being sexually abused to Edwards over WhatsApp in 2020 and 2021.

Edwards, who pleaded guilty to three criminal charges relating to 41 illegal images of a child, told the court he is “profoundly sorry” for his actions and apologised for “betraying the priceless trust and faith of so many people”.

He later became the subject of the Channel 5 factual drama, Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, starring Martin Clunes, which aired in March.

He said he intends to “challenge the misleading or fabricated claims” in the drama.

“Much has been written and reported in the past week following Channel 5’s one-sided account,” the former presenter said.

“Other opportunities will arise later this year for me to state my case, and to challenge the misleading or fabricated claims made in recent coverage.

“A number of serious questions still remain to be answered, and not just by me. It will now take some time for me to produce my own account, and until then I do not intend to comment any further.”

It is understood Edwards intends to make his own documentary or podcast series about the events.

Last month he launched a blog to offer analysis on current affairs as well as mental health, which child sexual abuse campaigners have branded “disrespectful”.