BBC boss Tim Davie has defended his decision to not fire Huw Edwards despite knowing he had been arrested in November over the most serious category of indecent images of children.
In an interview with BBC News, the corporation’s director-general was questioned on why he continued to employ the veteran broadcaster until April, when Edwards resigned on medical advice.
On Wednesday, Edwards admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams, with seven being of the most serious type.
Asked about how much BBC managers were told in November, he said: “We knew it was serious, we knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.”
Mr Davie also confirmed that the BBC’s chief executive of BBC News & Current Affairs, Deborah Turness, knew about the charges before this week, BBC News reported.
He said there was a “very small group of people at the centre” who knew and they had a “very restricted list of names”.
“When it comes to news, there was one name on it, the CEO of news, Deborah Turness. She isn’t involved editorially in the reporting of the story,” he added.
Mr Davie also defended the corporation’s decision not to sack Edwards in November, saying: “The police came to us and said, ‘Look, we need to do our work in total confidence, we’ve arrested, please keep this confidential’.
“And at that point, I think the principle is clear in my mind, and I say we thought long and hard about this, this wasn’t a knee-jerk decision.
“And it was difficult but when the police, if you think about this in terms of precedent, people do get arrested and then we’ve had situations where no charges (are made) and there’s nothing there to be followed up on.”
While the BBC boss knew of the severity of the charges, he said he was “very shocked” when the details of Edwards’ arrest came to light in full earlier this week.
“We were very shocked. No-one knew about the specifics of what we heard over the last few days, which have been deeply disturbing,” he said.
Mr Davie also claimed that because Edwards remained suspended before his resignation in April, it meant there were no issues relating to BBC employees’ safety.
He added: “Another factor at this point was very significant duty-of-care considerations.
“I think it was right for us to say, ‘Look, we’ll let the police do their business, and then when charges happen, we will act’.”
The BBC previously said after Edwards’ guilty plea that if he had been charged while he was still an employee it would have sacked him, but at the point of charge he no longer worked for the corporation.
Before Edwards resigned on medical advice, he was the broadcaster’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the BBC’s latest annual report.
His last salary marked a £40,000 pay rise from 2022/23, when he was paid between £435,000 and £439,999.
The director-general defended the rise, saying it was made up of an “inflationary increase” and work he did at the BBC in February 2023 before any allegations were made.
He also said the corporation will “look at all options” in trying to reclaim pay from Edwards following his guilty plea to accessing indecent images of children.
Speaking on Edwards’ pay and pension, Mr Davie said: “These are, unfortunately, the specifics of how it works, that we can’t claw back pension.
“I think when it comes to pay, again, legally challenging but we’ll look at all options.”
Addressing the prospect of there being any more information that the BBC knew, he said the corporation was “not sitting on anything that I think we need to share with the police, or is of a serious nature that would make me feel that we hadn’t followed up properly”.
He continued: “I can categorically say that when it comes to the offences we’ve seen, which are truly horrendous, any evidence that is out there is not in the hands of the BBC.
“If I saw evidence of that, that is not a complicated decision.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that officers told the BBC in “strict confidence” about the arrest of Edwards in November.
A statement from the force said: “The Met informed the BBC’s governance department that Huw Edwards had been arrested on November 8 2023.
“Common law police disclosure (CLPD) is the established legal mechanism through which the police can inform an individual’s employer when they are arrested or alleged to have committed an offence. It is often used where the individual holds a position of trust/responsibility with the public.
“The information is provided in strict confidence in order to enable the individual’s employer to consider what risk mitigation measures might be necessary.”
Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the news when asked about the case at a press conference in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister also confirmed Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was due to hold urgent talks with Mr Davie on Thursday.
Edwards resigned from the BBC in April “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors” after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in the matter.
Edwards will next appear in court on September 16.
