SHAMED Huw Edwards is free to text his sick paedophile pal after he dodged jail over child sex abuse images.
The ex-BBC star, who got a suspended prison sentence, was not hit with any stringent restrictions like other offenders.
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The decision not to impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order means there are no limits placed on his phone or internet use.
As a result, he could still be in contact with fellow Welshman Alex Williams, 25 — the convicted paedophile who sent him hundreds of child sex images.
Edwards, 63, can also travel abroad provided he gives police seven days’ notice.
There are no limitations on where he can go in the UK — meaning he can even visit a children’s playground.
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley hit out at the lack of legal restrictions, saying: “This demonstrates the shameful, pathetic, appalling sentences that paedophiles are receiving today.
“It’s offensive to all right-minded people who believe children are to be protected.
“For him to walk out with the hint of a smirk on his face, virtually as free as you or I, is galling.
“It highlights the flaws in our crumbling, failing criminal justice system which saw no punishment for his appalling crimes.”
Edwards paid up to £1,500 to Williams, who sent him legal pornography pictures as well as 41 child sex images.
In July, he pleaded guilty to charges of making indecent images.
Last week at Westminster magistrates’ court he got a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.
Sources said Edwards — who fronted the BBC’s News at Ten — is being treated at the £5,000-a-week Nightingale Hospital, a mental health facility in central London.
JPs also ordered him to complete a sex offender treatment programme and 25 rehabilitation sessions.
Those will involve confessing his depraved crimes and how they affected both him and his victims in front of a group of fellow paedophiles.