THE mother who first blew the whistle on predatory Huw Edwards last night demanded to know why he was not jailed — and said he ruined her son’s life.
Disgraced BBC News anchor Edwards paid her vulnerable son £35,000 in return for the lad sending sexually explicit images of himself.
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In the separate case of paedophile Alex Williams, it emerged yesterday that Edwards had paid him £1,500 for horrific child abuse videos from the dark web.
The star was messaging and paying Williams and the unidentified teenager at the same time during 2020 and 2021.
Edwards was given a six-month suspended prison sentence yesterday after he admitted making indecent images of children.
But the teenager’s mum said last night: “I’m devastated Edwards hasn’t gone to prison for the things he did. He’s exploited young children for his own sick ends and should have been jailed.
“As a mother, I just cannot comprehend why anyone would share those kinds of pictures and videos.
“When I heard Edwards had a degrading picture of a boy as young as seven on his phone at the same time as he was messaging my son from that same phone, I just couldn’t believe it.”
She also questioned whether he really felt “any remorse” as he had shown none to her or her family in the 14 months since she exposed him as a sexual predator.
The Sun revealed her son had spent Edwards’ money on drugs as his life spiralled out of control.
During several years of contact with the lad, Edwards would call him “good boy” and “princess” in creepy messages.
Despite their 40-year age gap, Edwards also sent messages saying things such as: “I love you . . . but you kill me x”.
The mother said: “It‘s not good enough by the judge. He’s let a sexual predator go free. “All of the excuses he used as to why he did what he did, they don’t seem genuine at all.
“He claimed he had vulnerability and mental health (issues) as a way to avoid jail but he was happy to groom my vulner-able son and prey on his addiction.
“He should know how bad that is if he also suffers with addictions, as he claims. I don’t believe he has any remorse because look at how he behaved after we revealed what he did to my son.
“He still tried to pay him off after that. He’s still as dangerous now as he was then and he should be in prison.
“The court should have properly punished Edwards and sent him to prison for a very long time.
“Because unless he is sent to prison, where is the real punishment?
Paedo’s pattern of behaviour
By Scarlet Howes
NIGHT after night he sternly delivered the most important news to the nation, with his authoritative style winning countless awards.
But away from his famous desk, as we have discovered, Huw Edwards was a manipulative paedophile who used the same pattern of behaviour time and time again to feed his relentless desires.
Some 437 days since the Sun’s bombshell front page – Edwards today appeared in court to learn his fate, his once glittering career in ruins.
Our exclusive that he paid a youngster thousands of pounds for sexual pictures made headlines around the globe and set into motion a series of events which plunged the BBC into crisis.
And Edwards – at the time the BBC’s highest earning newsreader – never again appeared on our screens.
Today, a court heard Edwards paid a younger convicted paedophile £1,500 for child sex images and videos of children which he described as “amazing”.
The case centred on messages between sex offender Alex Williams, who was a teen when they struck up a relationship, and 63-year-old Edwards.
We must be clear, the facts of that case are unrelated to our original story.
But there are some alarming similarities in his exchanges with both young people – and a pattern of deeply disturbing behaviour.
He made contact with both on social media, messaged them on WhatsApp, harassed them for pictures, and then gave them money.
There were kisses involved and Christmas presents given.
Chillingly, he even bought both of them, who are decades younger, a pair of trainers.
And all in exchange for sexual pictures.
Cash was used as leverage to the men, one homeless, the other a student, who could only dream of earning his top salary.
What The Sun uncovered was a pattern of behaviour and had we not done so Edwards’ could well have remained undetected.
“People have been jailed for years for rioting — yet paedophiles sharing pictures of young children being sexually abused somehow doesn’t warrant the same punishment?
“How can that be right? Huw Edwards has ruined my son’s life, totally ruined it.
“Sharing pictures of child abuse ruins lots of young lives. But where is the deterrent?”
The family had previously told The Sun of the “terrible strain” Edwards’ grooming of their child put them under.
It came to a head when the young man’s stepfather went to confront Edwards at Cardiff Central train station in May last year, after his mother saw messages that they were going to meet there.
After videoing Edwards but failing to speak to him, the stepfather complained to the BBC and was all but ignored — so the family then contacted The Sun.
People have been jailed for years for rioting — yet paedophiles sharing pictures of young children being sexually abused somehow doesn’t warrant the same punishment?
Victim’s mother
The stepfather also told police about Edwards’ behaviour.
The construction worker met with officers several times when his teen stepson was arrested for attacking his mum while high on drugs paid for by gifts from Edwards.
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He said: “The police would come here and I spoke to one officer and told him about Huw sending money for explicit messages.
“The PC told me, ‘Huw’s done nothing wrong. We know he’s borderline but we can’t arrest him’.
“Now knowing what he’s done, it’s absolutely disgusting.
“The police should have done something a lot quicker. They knew what it was all about. They missed a chance to look at his phone and laptop then. They could have found a load more stuff.
“They weren’t interested. It would fall on deaf ears. They said it was consensual between two adults. But it was deeply immoral and had they looked into it, they would’ve found a trove of dodgy stuff on his phone.”
Edwards, meanwhile, was accessing disgusting pictures and videos as he continued to groom and message other impressionable young men.
The stepdad said: “It’s disgusting to hear what he’s done and know the police could’ve acted sooner.”
He has written to his MP and is demanding to meet BBC director-general Tim Davie in person.
He said: “He brought the BBC into disrepute but the BBC also brought themselves into disrepute. They should have put him on suspension without pay from day one.”
The young man’s mother is also concerned that the phone Edwards was using to share abuse videos has seemingly not been recovered.
She said: “It’s shocking that police didn’t recover the phone he was using to receive the child abuse images. It makes me think, how many more victims are there?
“It could be the phone he groomed my boy on. God knows what else could be on there.
“When I read the details of how he met the paedophile who shared these images with him, I was shocked. He again gave cash to a youngster for sex chat.
“And he was clearly using BBC money for all of this. I just thought, ‘It’s the same old Huw, doing it again, messaging for pictures and giving out money’. It sickens me.”
‘Edwards completely fits the profile of a sexual predator’, says ex Met cop
Ex cop and internet expert Jonathan Taylor said Edwards “completely” fits the profile of a sexual predator.
Jonathan, who spent 10 years working undercover with the Met police to snare groomers, said: “You had a young vulnerable person and a family crying out for help but Huw didn’t offer professional help like any adult would or should. He used it to his advantage.
“The parents concerned must have worried that Edwards was condemning their child to a lifetime of drug use.”
He said the exchanges between the 17-year-old and the powerful presenter were typical of groomers.
He added: “Hugh has made a decision to engage with this person rather than dismiss contact with someone much younger.
“These exchanges were the type I’d see as an undercover police officer when I’d pose as a young person. I would remain completely passive and the other person, in this case Huw, would try to instigate meetings.
“It shows a pattern of behaviour and I would not be at all surprised if more young people came forward.
“Edwards completely fits the profile of a sexual predator.”
Meanwhile, online safety charities have blasted social media companies for failing to stop Edwards, saying his abusive behaviour was “entirely preventable”.
The Internet Watch Foundation, which works to stop the spread of child sex abuse online, said images sent to Edwards by Williams could still be in circulation.
The charity called for regulators to enforce the Online Safety Act to make platforms such as WhatsApp, on which Edwards viewed illegal content, better protect underage victims of sexual exploitation.
Chief executive Derek Ray-Hill said: “There are thousands of people committing offences like those of Edwards and there is currently nothing to prevent this.
“Those exact images, as it stands, could still be in circulation on WhatsApp, sent again and again undetected.
“As the regulator, Ofcom needs to utilise the full strength of the Online Safety Act and compel companies to use their best endeavours to prevent images from circulating in end-to-end encrypted environments.”
He brought the BBC into disrepute but the BBC also brought themselves into disrepute. They should have put him on suspension without pay from day one
Victim’s stepdad
The NSPCC’s Rani Govender said: “Online child sexual abuse is at record levels and offenders like Edwards who fuel this crime should be in no doubt about its severity and the impact it has on victims.
“Companies must also act by putting technology in place that can identify and disrupt child abuse images being shared on their messaging services so victims can be safeguarded and offenders prosecuted.”
And Lynn Perry, of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said: “Tens of thousands of children are sexually exploited or groomed online every year.
“We urge tech companies to take action to make sure abuse material can’t be shared on their platforms.
“When children are abused, and images of this are shared online, they must receive urgent, specialist support — something that is sadly unavailable to many children nationwide.”
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips and the National Crime Agency have called on social media firms to ensure platforms are not “safe spaces for criminals”.
Facebook’s parent company Meta, which owns WhatsApp, was approached for comment.