3 days Ago By [email protected] (Ryan Carroll, Susan Knox)
The anguished mum says he caused her family “immense pain and suffering” in the pursuit of his “sick pleasure”. Get the latest Scottish crime and courts news sent straight to your inbox with our daily Criminal Record newsletter We have more newsletters Get the latest Scottish crime and courts news sent straight to your inbox with our daily Criminal Record newsletter We have more newsletters Huw Edwards' victim's devastated mum has written an open letter hitting out at the shamed BBC presenter ahead of his sentencing. The anguished mum says he caused her family “immense pain and suffering” in the pursuit of his “sick pleasure”.
The former BBC News host is set to appear in court today after admitting to having 41 indecent pictures of children. On July 31, the father-of-five pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. Westminster Magistrates Court heard that the 62-year-old was involved in an online chat with convicted paedophile Alex Williams on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021.
He sent him 377 sexual images - of which 41 were indecent images of children - and the bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period. As reported by the Mirror , Edwards faces charges of seven Category A, the worst category, 12 Category B, and 22 Category C indecent images of children. Before he stepped down due to health concerns in April, he was the top-earning newsreader at the BBC, raking in between £475,000 and £479,999 for the fiscal year 2023/24, as revealed by the BBC's most recent annual report.
Edwards was arrested in November 2023, and continued to be paid by the BBC until he resigned five months later. The BBC have said they are demanding he pays back the money he earned from them between that time following numerous calls. The horrified mother of the young man who Edwards paid tens of thousands of pounds to in return for sexually explicit pictures now says the former news anchor should be locked up.
In a heartbreaking open letter, the mum wrote: "I am today writing this open letter to make you understand the immense pain and suffering you have caused me, my son, my family, your own family - and all of your victims over the years. "In doing so I hope I am giving a voice to the mothers of the poor children who were abused for your twisted gratification. Those very young children who were robbed of their innocence forever for your sick pleasure.
Who knows what eternal damage you and your paedophile friends have done to them? My heart breaks for every one of them - and their families. Their grief is mine, too. "You will receive your punishment in court.
I won't be able to tell that court the full details of what you did to my family. But in writing this letter I hope to take back the power and control which you so cruelly stole from us. I want you to see exactly what your behaviour did to us.
" She went on: "My son was a normal, happy l teenager before you wormed your way into his life. He wanted to be a lawyer, to be a success. Instead you sent him down a dark path.
He started having problems with drink and drugs. You knew that but kept pestering him for pictures. "You sent him more money, knowing that he was likely to spend it on his addiction.
You sent him tens of thousands of pounds. Sent text messages calling him "Princess" to control him and keep him on side. And when we tried to stop this toxic relationship - to save our boy from your clutches - you tried to bribe us and set lawyers on us.
"Your friends in the media tried to smear us as liars. Our own family turned against us - even though everything we said was true. You drove a wedge between me and my son.
Only now are we able to try to repair the damage you did. I want you to know that while there were times when you came close - you never wholly destroyed me. "I will not let you destroy us.
You have trashed your career and reputation and will never be on television again. You have wrecked your relationship with your own family - and betrayed the BBC colleagues you worked for. That you have lost everything is no consolation to us.
" The mother concluded the powerful open letter by saying: "All we care about is that we stopped your predatory grooming and saved our boy. For now, that is enough." Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
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