The British Justice System never fails to disappoint, as the powerful always seem to get away unscathed, or at best get a slap on the wrist, no matter how appalling the crimes.
Case in point: disgraced former BBC News anchor Huw Edwards has been convicted of child abuse image offenses and admitted having 41 such images that were sent to him on WhatsApp.
But Edwards has avoided ‘an immediate jail sentence’, in a development that has shocked public opinion.
Telegraph reported:
“The former BBC anchor paid pedophile Alex Williams up to £1,500 after receiving images of child sex abuse, asking for some to be sent even after he was told that those pictured looked young.
Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, told Edwards his ‘long-earned reputation’ was ‘in tatters’ as he sentenced the former BBC newsreader to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Westminster magistrates’ court.”
The judge also ordered Edwards to undertake a sex offender treatment program, as well as undergo a rehabilitation activity requirement order and sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
Edwards, who left the BBC last year, is on conditional bail for possessing 41 indecent images, seven of which were ‘category A,’ the most serious.
“The veteran broadcaster was the face of the BBC’s coverage of major national events for decades and announced the late Queen’s death in September 2022. A spokesman for the BBC said: ‘We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him’.”
Edwards sent up to £1,500 to pedophile Williams, who supplied him with images of child sex abuse.
“The estimated ages for the children present in the Category A images is generally around 13 to 15, with two of the moving images described as showing a child aged around seven to nine.”
His lawyer said the crimes happened when Edwards’ was ‘mentally vulnerable’ and that he had ‘no memory of actually viewing any particular image.’
The chief magistrate accepted that Edwards was struggling with a mental disorder at the time of the offending.
“Ken Macdonald, a former director of public prosecutions, has sought to reassure the public that Edwards received no special treatment. Speaking to BBC Radio Four, he said: ‘Edwards has not been treated any differently to anyone else. This sentence is fairly standard, a pretty conventional sentence’.”
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