2023-07-13 12:50:32
London police said there was no evidence that a BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit images committed a crime.
This came as the broadcaster’s wife publicly revealed, Wednesday, for the first time that the suspect in the allegations is her husband, veteran news anchor Hugh Edwards, according to the Associated Press.
The Metropolitan Police said it had made its decision after speaking with the alleged victim, now 20, and his parents.
The parents complained to The Sun newspaper last week that the BBC had allowed the broadcaster to stay on the air after they told the authority last May that he had paid the young man £35,000 ($45,000) starting in 2020 when the young man was a teenager. In his 17th year.
With the scandal dominating the headlines throughout the past week, BBC presenters called on the unnamed presenter to come forward. Late Wednesday, his wife, Vicki Flend, issued a statement naming Edwards as a suspect in the incident. Flend said her husband had serious mental problems and was taken to hospital.
Flend said she was disclosing his name “primarily out of concern for his sanity and the protection of our children”, after “five very difficult days for our family”. “The events of the past few days have greatly exacerbated matters, as he has suffered another serious seizure and is now receiving medical care in a hospital where he will remain for the foreseeable future.”
Edwards, 61, is one of Britain’s best-known and most trusted news presenters, lead anchor on the BBC’s evening news and the face of its election coverage. He led the BBC’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last September. He is one of the highest-paid broadcasters, with an annual salary of no less than 435,000 pounds ($565,000).
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