Former BBC presenter Huw Edwards told a convicted paedophile “go on” when asked if he wanted “naughty pics and vids” of somebody described as young, a court heard. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard The 63-year-old is “truly sorry” for how he has “damaged his family and his loved ones”, and for committing the offences. The court heard Edwards sent hundreds of pounds to Alex Williams after he sent him pornographic images.
His defence barrister Philip Evans KC said Edwards did not make payments in order to receive indecent images of children, telling the court: “Mr Edwards did not make payments in order for images to be sent to him, and he certainly did not make payments in order that indecent images would be sent to him.” He is due to be sentenced on Monday after he admitted three charges of “making” indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by Williams over WhatsApp. Edwards wrote “yes xxx” when he was asked by Williams if he wanted sexual images of a person whose “age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16”.
“It is also clear that Mr Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money – low hundreds of pounds on an occasional basis – to Alex Williams which Mr Williams directly asked for on several occasions, as gifts or presents, apparently off the back of sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards, about which images they chatted. “Alex Williams has stated that the money was more generally to support him at uni.