The black and white image is professional. Well-lit and impeccably dressed, with a smug little smirk on his face, Huw Edwards appears to be in the prime of his powers, the epitome of a respectable professional.
However, within a few hours of reports that the former BBC newsreader had posted this ‘new headshot’ to Facebook on Monday, the backlash had – you may think quite rightly – begun.
By Wednesday morning, Edwards had accrued an extra 400 followers, but invited the ire of the world.
The former News At Ten anchorman, who is nearly halfway through the two-year suspension of a jail term after accessing images of child abuse, was told to ‘disappear’ by the family of one of his victims.
The stepfather of the victim, who first reported Edwards to the BBC in 2023 but was ignored, said: ‘If he thinks he can just put up a picture of himself and it’s going to change the way people think about him, he’s wrong. He’s scum.
‘You can paint over cracks but you can never hide them. He is finished; he’s a paedophile. Any time he raises his head it is an insult to his victims. He needs to realise this is it and disappear.’
On Thursday morning, the disgraced presenter did just that – apparently deleting his Facebook page and scrubbing all content from his Instagram page, too.
Only his LinkedIn profile is still operational. On that networking site Edwards, 64, has punctiliously noted the date at which he ceased working for the BBC – after 39 years and seven months – and the date on which he also ceased working for Cardiff University in June 2024.
Huw Edwards is nearly halfway through the two-year suspension of a jail term after accessing images of child abuse
He describes himself as ‘Journalist, broadcaster, author’ and has 65,000 followers. There is of course no mention of his conviction in July 2024 for making indecent images of children or of attending a course for sex offenders following sentencing in September that year.
Nor is there any indication of his future plans – and just what the headshot might mean.
One former colleague said: ‘It’s no surprise he has gone totally to ground. He didn’t have that many friends in the industry before [the conviction.] He was “one of the unloved”, for obvious reasons.’
Another BBC News source said: ‘The photo is the talk of the newsroom. There’s no doubt there is a plan behind it. But there is zero chance of a comeback.’
A third, perhaps more forgiving, former colleague and friend told me this week: ‘People are always asking me, “How’s Huw?” and “Where has he gone?” He is simply not in touch with anyone. He has left this world behind him.
‘Nobody even knows how they might reach him. I feel sad that the BBC didn’t understand that he was in trouble sooner. You wonder how they missed the signs.’
The former colleague adds: ‘I can only think that the timing isn’t coincidental, now that [BBC News chief executive officer] Deborah Turness and [BBC director general] Tim Davie have gone. Maybe that made Huw think this was a good time to pop his head up.’
It’s possible that the departure of two of the BBC’s top brass, following criticism that Panorama misled viewers with an edit of a speech given by Donald Trump, may have given Edwards a sense of opportunity. Another view might be that Huw Edwards must be reckless – or more than that – to still be on social media in any way.
Edwards leaving Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last year
For in a report written for the court in 2024, forensic psychosexual therapist Dr Victoria Appleyard said it was social media, and the opportunities it offered for him to engage with people who he would normally never meet, that proved disastrous for the presenter.
The court was told that Edwards was abusing prescription medication, struggling in his marriage and suffering from a ‘major depressive disorder’ at the time of offending by accessing child pornography via ‘friendships’ with other perverts.
Dr Appleyard wrote: ‘His social media engagement presented as an easy way to manage his low mood, and provided him with a number of men and women who were motivated to be sexual with him which not only boosted his fragile self-esteem but allowed him to re-engage with his sexual interest in men which had been managed since 1994.
‘The feelings of being desirable and unseen, alongside Mr Edwards’ unresolved sexual orientation, created a perfect storm where he engaged in sexual infidelities and became vulnerable to people blackmailing him.’
And yet here he is again on social media – apparently seeking a boost to his self-esteem by posting a flattering picture of himself, and carefully posting a ‘like’ against every positive comment.
But one perfectly placed source says this re-emergence and swift retreat is not quite as it appears.
For one thing, that headshot was taken some time ago and has been used by Edwards on social media since 2019.
In addition it was Meta, the operator of Facebook and Instagram, that disabled his accounts this week in the wake of media reports of his new posts.
Edwards lives close to his mother Aerona. Multiple local sources in Wales confirm they only ever see Edwards with her
I am told that Huw Edwards has no intention of pursuing any kind of publicity or re-entering broadcasting or any form of journalism.
Instead those close to him insist his sole focus is on his mother Aerona, who is now 89 years old.
Indeed, multiple local sources in Wales confirm that they only ever see him with her. He is in the habit of taking her for a stroll along the beach in Llanelli around once a fortnight and they will then sit and chat on a bench in Llanelli’s Millennium Park.
Later they will head to a nearby restaurant and drink tea. This beachfront ritual has become one of Edwards’ few excursions as he adjusts to life away from the limelight, with his mother his only companion.
She lives in a detached house in Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, around half an hour’s drive from Llanelli. Huw, it can be revealed, lives in a small bungalow in the grounds of her home.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: ‘He’s lucky he’s still got his mother.
‘She’s become his place of safety now. Maybe she’s the only person left that he can turn to.
‘I must admit, I wish he wasn’t living in Llangennech, but at least he has the decency to stay indoors most of the time.’
Edwards presenting the BBC News At Ten. His LinkedIn profile is still operational, where he describes himself as a ‘journalist, broadcaster, author’
Another neighbour said: ‘You wouldn’t know he’s been living here because you never see him, but my mum knows his mother, Aerona, and she told her he’s staying with her. She has been his place of refuge. While he’s been here, he’s kept his head down.
‘You never see him out and about, just very occasionally in the car driving through the village. No one is happy about him being here but he’s got to be somewhere, I suppose.
‘He’s fortunate to have such a devoted mother. She must be the only person in the world who looks out for him now.’
At Llanelli beach, a dog walker said he has spotted Edwards and his mother enjoying a stroll and sitting at a nearby bench several times in recent months.
He said: ‘When I first saw them, I thought, “Aw, that’s nice, a guy hanging out with his mam and looking after her”. Then, as they came closer, I realised it was Huw Edwards. He didn’t make eye contact with me and just scuttled past, wordlessly.
‘She must be his only friend in the world now. I’ve seen them a few times since then. They always have a breather at a bench in the Millennium Park and sit and chat for a while, then they go and have a cup of tea at a cafe.
‘It just goes to show there really is nothing like a mother’s love.’
Once the highest paid presenter at the BBC, lionised with awards and the highest of profiles, Edwards is now truly isolated. Friends of Edwards’ wife Vicky Flind say that she and their five children all walked away from him after the court case when he admitted receiving vile videos of sex abuse.
A member of their social circle in London tells me: ‘The family switched off from him and from the shock of it all. They closed ranks to protect each other.
‘Vicky refuses point blank to discuss any of it.
‘Of course they didn’t know about the offences. Some of their friends are outraged that he is not in prison.
‘One of their old friends said they think he might harm himself and thought he must have been medicated to manage the court appearances.’
Flind has since filed for divorce, and their house in Dulwich, south London, was put up for sale for £4.75million. Having failed to sell after a number of price cuts, it has now been taken off the market.
But Flind is no longer on the board of governors at Dulwich College, the independent boys’ school, and has left the area, seeking new friends and a fresh start.
A high-flyer in her own right, she is the creator and executive producer of the ITV show Peston. She also oversees The Martin Lewis Money Show and Tonight and is the head of current affairs at the production company MultiStory Media.
The Edwards scandal erupted after The Sun revealed in 2023 that an unnamed BBC star had paid a young man £35,000 for sexual images.
The man’s family, who were from South Wales, asked the broadcaster to stop contact with the young man, who apparently had a drug problem.
Soon after, Flind revealed that the star in question was her husband. In a statement, 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.’
Then, after a separate probe, he was charged over child abuse images. Edwards was allowed by the BBC to step down on medical grounds in April 2024.
He dodged jail, despite describing the vile sex abuse videos he received as ‘amazing’ in exchanges revealed in court, and replying ‘go on’ when offered pictures and videos of a boy aged around eight.
Seven of the 41 images were judged as Category A, the most serious. He admitted three charges of making indecent images of children and was ordered to go on a sex treatment programme when sentenced in September last year.
The BBC has failed to claw back the £200,000 Edwards earned between his arrest for child abuse images and him leaving the corporation. BBC chairman Samir Shah says that they have asked, but had no response.
Those close to the scandal say that Edwards spent all he had on his lawyers at Harbottle & Lewis. He will now be living comfortably on his BBC pension, said to stand at around £2million.
One old family friend told me last year that he had been offered a deal by a publisher for a memoir about his breakdown and exile.
But he has not, it seems, been tempted so far.
He doesn’t need the money.
Nor, as this week’s eruption demonstrated, does he need the spotlight.
Additional reporting: Nic North
