PAEDO Huw Edwards has still not returned any of his publicly-funded salary to the BBC, bosses revealed today.
To the fury of licence fee-payers, the former flagship presenter is still brazenly refusing to hand back any of the £200,000 he was paid after his 2023 arrest.
PABBC director general Tim Davie (left) and BBC chairman Samir Shah were grilled on disgraced ex-news presenter Huw Edwards at the Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee today[/caption]
BackGridDisgraced newsreader Huw Edwards in February was seen for the first time since he was given a suspended sentence for abuse images[/caption]
Appearing before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee, corporation chiefs said they are “frustrated” that the disgraced ex-presenter won’t hand back the cash.
BBC chairman Samir Shah said: “We have not been able to recover any salary from Huw Edwards.
“We have asked and we’ve said it many times but he seems unwilling to.
“There was a moment we thought he might do the right thing for a change. He’s clearly decided not to.”
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Director General Tim Davie suggested he can’t force Edwards to give the cash back – so for now his hands are tied.
He said: “We’ve made the request and taken legal advice – that’s where we are.”
At the Culture Committee hearing, Mr Shah insisted he is “determined to stamp out” a serial problem with predatory men at the BBC praying on junior staff.
The corporation has been rocked by a string of cases of star presenters abusing their positions of power, including Russell Brand, Greg Wallace and Edwards.
The broadcaster has commissioned firm Change Associates to conduct a “culture review” into perverts and predators, and how they are handled by the institution.
A report will be submitted to the BBC board this month before being made public in April.
Mr Shah said: “This is really a very important matter to me.
“I’ve been here a year and what I wasn’t expecting was this procession of men abusing their power, from Huw Edwards to the most recent thing.
“I am determined to stamp this out.
“Right now we are discussing what actions we are going to take. I am also very keen that it is not another set of processes. I want real, visible action that demonstrates that if you step out of line something is done.”
The BBC chairman admitted there is a problem with “junior staff feeling dis empowered to call out people behaving badly”.
He said: “We have to find a mechanism and a system that allows them to do that.
“That they don’t feel their career is at stake or that management will move them out. “
Edwards was on £475,000 when he was arrested in November 2023 over 41 images shared in a WhatsApp chat — seven of them of the worst Category A level.
He was not sacked, even though some senior BBC staff knew he had been nicked.
Instead he was allowed to step down on “medical grounds” in April 2024.
This was after The Sun had separately revealed he paid a vulnerable young man £35,000 for sex snaps.
We then revealed last July he had been charged with making indecent images.
He admitted three counts at Westminster magistrates in September and was handed a suspended six-month jail sentence.
He was also ordered to undergo rehabilitation sessions and placed on the sex offender register.
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