BBC staff suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct was identified by his wife on Wednesday as Huw Edwards, anchor on the BBC’s flagship nightly news program and one of its most prominent and prominent figures.
Meanwhile, London police said there was no evidence Mr Edwards had committed a crime, following a press report last week that an unnamed BBC personality had paid more than £35,000, or nearly £45,000, to a teenager in exchange for explicit images. over a period of several years that began when the person was 17 years old.
Mr Edwards’ wife, Vicky Flind, released a statement on her husband’s behalf late on Wednesday, saying he had been hospitalized with “serious mental health problems” and would respond to the allegations when he recovered.
“The events of the last few days have made things much worse,” Ms Flind said. “He suffered another major episode and is now receiving inpatient care, where he will remain for the foreseeable future.”
The Metropolitan Police looked into the allegations after being contacted by the BBC. In a statement released shortly before Ms Flind’s, the police said detectives had concluded their investigation and “determined that there was no information to indicate that a criminal offense had been committed.”
On Monday, a lawyer for the teenager told the BBC that the report, in the London tabloid The Sun last Friday, was “rubbish”, and that nothing inappropriate or illegal had happened between his client and Mr Edwards.
The news that Mr Edwards was the target of the investigation was no longer much of a surprise – his name had been widely circulated for days on social media – but it still landed with a thud in Britain.
A veteran Welsh-born newscaster who joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984, the 61-year-old Mr Edwards is, for many British viewers, synonymous with the broadcaster. He is the anchor who announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September, donning a dark suit to mark the solemn moment.
Mr Edwards then led the BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s funeral, as well as the coronation of King Charles III in May, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, and the last general election, in 2019. He regularly anchors “BBC”. News at Ten,” the main evening news program, and is one of its highest-paid stars, earning up to 439,999 pounds ($571,000) a year, according to the BBC’s annual report.
For the BBC, it is the latest in a series of crises growing out of the behavior or statements of its on-air personalities. Most notoriously, the broadcaster faced fierce criticism over Jimmy Savile, a famous comedian and BBC host who was accused of being a serial sex offender after his death in 2011.