Huw Edwards has been named as the BBC presenter at the heart of allegations about payments to a young person for explicit photographs.
The personality was named by his wife, Vicky Flind, in a statement, who said that he was suffering from “serious mental health issues” and receiving in patient care at a hospital.
Statement
Vicky Flind said: “In light of the recent reporting regarding the ‘BBC Presenter’ I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family. I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.
Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.
‘The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.
Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.
To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.
‘In the circumstances and given Huw’s condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.
I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end.”
No criminal offence
But in another dramatic development, the Metropolitan Police also announced that it had determined that there had been no criminal offence and the BBC could reopen its internal investigation.
The force said:
“Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.
“There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.”
“We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time.
“Should evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues be identified at any point we would expect matters to be referred to the relevant police force.”
