Wife of Huw Edwards names him as BBC presenter alleged to have paid for sexually explicit images

In her statement, Ms Flind said her husband was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and is now “receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future” as she asked for privacy for her family.

"In light of the recent reporting regarding the 'BBC Presenter' I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family. I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children,” she said.

"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 in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.

"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.

"To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.

"In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected. I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."

The Metropolitan Police has said no criminal offence has been committed by the BBC presenter, now named as Mr Edwards.

Following the police announcement that it would be taking no further action, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “We have seen the statement from the police confirming they have completed their assessment and are not taking further action. We’re grateful to them for completing this work at speed.

“The police had previously asked us to pause our fact finding investigations and we will now move forward with that work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts, whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved.”

Sources have made clear to the PA news agency that Mr Edwards has not resigned from the BBC.

The presenter has been the face of the BBC's election and royal coverage over the years, notably last year announcing the death of the late Queen Elizabeth.

The Welsh journalist and broadcaster has previously spoken about his mental health, telling BBC Radio Cymru in 2019 that he was "mentally in the wrong place" when he was physically "unhealthy".

He also revealed in a documentary in 2021 he had bouts of depression which have left him "bedridden" since 2002.

Edwards is the BBC's highest paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £435,000 - £439,999, up from £410,000 - £414,000 last year, putting him fourth on the top 10 list, the corporation's annual report revealed on Tuesday.

The statement from his wife comes as the Metropolitan Police said no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter.

The force said: "Detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.

"In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant's family, both 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."

The statement added: "We are aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to us and therefore there is no police action at this time."

The BBC said in a statement the corporation was "grateful" to the Met Police for "completing this work at speed".

Last week, The Sun newspaper first reported allegations against an unnamed presenter, saying the presenter had paid a young person tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images.

On July 9, the BBC issued an update to staff and the media and confirmed it had suspended the unnamed presenter.

A spokesperson for The Sun said this evening: “The allegations published by The Sun were always very serious. Further serious allegations have emerged in the past few days.

“It is right that the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team continues to investigate these thoroughly and deals with them in the way that they think is appropriate. The Sun will 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 Sun has no plans to publish further allegations. We must also re-emphasise that The Sun at no point in our original story alleged criminality and also took the decision neither to name Mr Edwards nor the young person involved in the allegations.

“Suggestions about possible criminality were first made at a later date by other media outlets, including the BBC. From the outset, we have reported a story about two very concerned and frustrated parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and payments from him that fuelled the drug habit of a young person.

“We reported that the parents had already been to the police who said that they couldn’t help. The parents then made a complaint to the BBC which was not acted upon.

“It is now for the BBC to properly investigate.”

However David Yelland, former editor of The Sun, said the newspaper had “inflicted terror” on Huw Edwards, and now faced a “crisis”.

“I wish @thehuwedwards well,” Yelland wrote on Twitter.

“The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence.

“This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected.

“Social media also needs speedy reform.”

The BBC’s director-general Tim Davie told staff this will “no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days” and added: “I want to reassure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved.”

In a note sent to staff and seen by the PA news agency, Mr Davie said: “I wanted to write following this evening’s statements from the family of Huw Edwards and the police.

“Many of you will have read the words of Vicky Flind, Huw’s wife. It is a reminder that the last few days have seen personal lives played out in public. At the heart of this are people and their families.

“This will no doubt be a difficult time for many after a challenging few days. I want to reassure you that our immediate concern is our duty of care to all involved.

“Also this afternoon, the Metropolitan Police and South Wales Police confirmed they would be taking no further action following an assessment of information provided to them.

“As you know, we were asked to pause our fact finding investigations until that assessment had been concluded. It is important we now continue with this work. I want to be clear that in doing so we will follow due process.

“This remains a very complex set of circumstances. As we have done throughout, our aim must be to navigate through this with care and consideration, in line with the BBC values.”