Are police not taking action against Huw Edwards in ‘sex pics’ probe?

A day after the name of the BBC presenter at the centre of the explicit pictures scandal was revealed in a shocking development in the case, two of the UK’s police forces have reportedly backed off from taking action against Huw Edwards over claims that he paid a teenager for “sex pics”.

The Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police looked at allegations against the BBC presenter and both said there was no information to indicate criminal offences had been committed, Sky News reported.

The seasoned broadcaster Huw Edwards was identified by his wife, Vicky Flind. He has been accused of paying a young person more than £35,000 in exchange for sexual pictures.

However, she also revealed that, amidst the recent allegations, Edwards was hospitalised for a serious mental health episode, adding that he would address the allegations once he recovered.

“Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters; he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving inpatient hospital care, where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”

‘More allegations against Edward’

But this is not all that Edward has been facing as “yet more allegations of inappropriate behaviour” — this time towards his colleagues at the corporation — have surfaced.

Two current employees and a former BBC staff member said that the presenter sent them inappropriate messages.

BBC cited one of the individuals as saying that they received a flirtatious message which referenced their appearance, from the accused presenter.

Another told the broadcaster that they felt the messages they received were an abuse of power.

Despite the latest allegations, the Met Police said its specialist crime command “concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed”.

The statement was issued after the force spoke to BBC, the alleged complainant and their family, “via another police force”.

“There is no further police action. As such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation,” it added.

Meanwhile, the South Wales Police said it was in contact with representatives of the Met and the BBC and “no criminality was identified” in the case.

“At this time, there is no evidence that any criminal offences have been committed. There are no ongoing enquiries being carried out by South Wales Police.”

It added that any further claims would be investigated if reported to the police.

Sun quits plans to publish more allegations

Meanwhile, The Sun, which was the first to report the explosive allegations against an unnamed BBC presenter of paying money to a 17-year-old now 20, has said it has “no plans” to publish further allegations.

A spokesperson for the newspaper said it would cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process.

“We will provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel,” the spokesperson said.