DISGRACED Huw Edwards is seen clutching three bottles of Prosecco – days after The Sun told how he had refused to repay the £200,000 he earned from the BBC after his child abuse images arrest.
Shamed Edwards broke cover as he went for a lonesome stroll on his birthday.
SplashHuw Edwards was snapped in Swansea after buying three bottles of Prosecco[/caption]
SplashThe ex-newsreader was spotted out and about on his 64th birthday[/caption]
SplashHe was clutching the bottles, as well as a cap, car keys and receipt[/caption]
SplashEdwards at a parking machine near his car[/caption]
The paedophile – sporting new grey facial hair and glasses – looked grim-faced as he was spotted on Monday, the day he turned 64.
Our exclusive pictures show the ex-BBC presenter holding his car keys, a parking receipt, a blue cap and three bottles of Tesco finest Prosecco Brut – £3.35 each at the supermarket – as he returned to his car.
The fallen star, whose wife Vicky has filed for divorce, was wearing a wedding ring when he was seen in his native South Wales.
It is the first time former News at Ten host Edwards has been seen since we revealed pictures of him spluttering on a vape in February.
And it comes as the Beeb confirmed it had failed to claw back the salary Edwards earned between his November 2023 arrest and his resignation five months later.
‘A shadow of his former self’
An onlooker said: “Edwards looked very different, with glasses very grey hair and a beard and moustache.
“He was dressed smartly but also looked like he had put on a bit of weight.
“And he looked a shadow of his former cocky and super-confident self.
“Edwards struck a very odd figure – and it was quite a peculiar sight seeing him heading back to his car with the mini-Prosecco bottles. It made me wonder who they were for, or if they were a gift to him.
“Whatever the situation, Edwards looked a bit tragic – which he is.
“He was quite near Swansea train station and looked like he could have been to see any remaining friends he has before heading off in his car.
“There are a few nice places nearby including a hotel he could have come from.
“Although he looked different he was very recognisable.
“But considering who he is he looked pretty relaxed and was strolling about freely – not trying to hide his identity.
“No-one bothered him though and he seemed comfortable being out and about.
“He just looked like a middle-aged man going about his business, but it does make you sick when you consider what he’s done.”
BBC failed to claw back salary
Our pictures come after we told on Monday how BBC were furious that bosses had failed to claw back any of the £200,000 Edwards’ post-arrest salary.
The BBC said – after a Sun Freedom of Information probe: “Huw Edwards has not returned any money paid to him by the BBC after his arrest, in respect of any of his work.
“The BBC has asked for all the money paid to Huw Edwards by the BBC for the perioed November 2023 (arrest) and April 2024 (resignation) to be returned.”
Edwards – once the BBC’s star news anchor who fronted coverage of elections and state events including the Queen’s funeral – was allowed to step down on medical grounds.
The shamed star – spared jail by Westminster Magistrates last September over child abuse images – was last pictured wearing a quilted jacket and puffing on a vape in Wales.
Those pictures came as The Sun revealed the BBC was struggling to recoup money from their former star man.
The ex-newsreader – paid £475,000 per year by the BBC – was arrested in November 2023 over the most serious category of child abuse images shared in a Whats App chat.
But he was not sacked by the Beeb although some senior staff knew he had been nicked.
Paedo’s pattern of behaviour
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.
Welshman Edwards – who had been revealed as paying a young man £35,000 for sex pictures after a separate Sun investigation – was instead allowed to step down from the BBC on “medical grounds” in April 2024.
We then revealed last July he had been charged with making indecent images.
Edwards was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and April 2022.
The charges were not made public until they were revealed by The Sun.
He admitted the three counts in July – and then avoided jail when he was sentenced last September.
The court heard he paid money to young paedophile Alex Williams for obscene material.
He described a batch of depraved paedophile videos as “amazing” – and replied “go on” when offered pictures and videos of a boy later estimated to be aged between seven and nine.
Seven of the 41 images sent by Williams were of the worst Category A level.
But Edwards was handed a suspended six-month jail sentence and ordered to undergo a sex treatment programme and rehabilitation sessions.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register.
The Sun has campaigned for paedophiles who hoard serious child abuse images to face automatic jail.
Edwards, who has separated from producer wife Vicky – mum of his five children – has been spending time in his native Wales where he has family including his elderly mother.
PAEdwards’ mugshot was released after his sentencing last July[/caption]
Edwards was sentenced to six months in prison suspendedPA
AlamyHuw Edwards leaving court[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
