BBC director-general Tim Davie has said the corporation will “look at all options” in trying to reclaim pay from Huw Edwards after he pleaded guilty to accessing indecent images of children.
The BBC boss was probed on the corporation’s handling of the case after it said it knew of the veteran broadcaster’s arrest on “suspicion of serious offences” in November, but continued employing him until April.
Speaking to BBC News about 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.”
Davie also defended the corporation’s decision not to fire Edwards when it was told about his arrest in November.
He said: “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 and there’s nothing there to be followed up on.
“In this case, we knew it was serious. We knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.”
