The BBC workers member suspended on allegations of sexual misconduct was recognized by his spouse on Wednesday as Huw Edwards, an anchor on the BBC’s flagship nightly news program and one in every of its most outstanding and distinguished figures.
At the identical time, London police mentioned there was no proof that Mr. Edwards had dedicated a criminal offense, following a newspaper report final week that an unnamed BBC character paid greater than £35,000, or virtually $45,000, to a youngster in change for express photos over a interval of a number of years that started when the individual was 17 years previous.
Mr. Edwards’s spouse, Vicky Flind, issued a press release on her husband’s behalf late Wednesday, saying he had been hospitalized with “serious mental health issues” and would reply to the allegations when he had recovered.
“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters,” Ms. Flind mentioned. “He has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving inpatient care, where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”
The Metropolitan Police regarded into the allegations after being contacted by the BBC. In a press release issued shortly earlier than Ms. Flind’s, the police mentioned detectives had concluded their inquiry and “have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offense has been committed.”
On Monday, a lawyer for {the teenager} instructed the BBC that the report, within the London tabloid The Sun final Friday, was “rubbish,” and that nothing inappropriate or illegal had occurred between his shopper and Mr. Edwards.
The news that Mr. Edwards is the goal of the investigation was now not a lot of a shock — his title had been extensively rumored for days on social media — however it nonetheless landed with a thunderclap in Britain.
A veteran Welsh-born newscaster who joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984, the 61-year-old Mr. Edwards is, for a lot of British viewers, synonymous with the broadcaster. He is the anchor who broke the news of the dying of Queen Elizabeth II final September, placing on a darkish go well with to mark the solemn second.
Mr. Edwards then led the BBC’s protection of the queen’s funeral, in addition to the coronation of King Charles III in May, the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, and the final basic election, in 2019. He frequently anchors “BBC News at Ten,” the primary night news program, and is one in every of its highest-paid stars, incomes as much as 439,999 kilos ($571,000) a yr, in line with the BBC’s annual report.
For the BBC, it’s the newest in a sequence of crises rising out of the conduct or statements of its on-air personalities. Most notoriously, the broadcaster confronted fierce criticism over Jimmy Savile, a well-known comic and BBC host who was accused of being a serial intercourse offender after his dying in 2011.
Source: www.nytimes.com