Tim Davie says Edwards 'won't work for BBC again'

The BBC’s director general Tim Davie said he “can’t see” Huw Edwards working at the corporation again. “This man has just been convicted of appalling crimes and it’s pretty straightforward in my mind, I can’t see him working here again,” he told BBC presenter Amol Rajan at the RTS London Convention. On Monday, disgraced BBC News presenter Edwards was given a a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years , after he admitted charges of making indecent images of children.

Mr Davie said "for obvious reasons," the former presenter was unlikely to come back to the organsation. The court was told on Monday that Edwards received more than 40 images over several months from a convicted sex offender – including some showing a victim aged between seven and nine. Until last year, he was the BBC's most senior news presenter and often fronted coverage of major national events.

Mr Davie said there was "shock" and "a lot of upset” within the BBC over Edwards, adding that people across the organisation feel “deeply, deeply let down”. But he insisted it wasn’t about the BBC, but rather, about the victims and their families. Edwards was the BBC's highest-paid journalist, receiving between £475,000 and £479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024.

The BBC has asked him to return the £200,000 he earned between his arrest last November and his resignation this April. The whole issue of pay did not come up in court on Monday. Addressing the matter, Mr Davie said di.