What are the charges against Huw Edwards, and could he face jail time?

Ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards has admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, but what do the charges mean, and could he face prison?

Edwards appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where he admitted the counts during a 26-minute hearing.

He was released on conditional bail, and will next appear at the same court on September 16.

– What are the charges against Huw Edwards?

Edwards admitted three counts of making indecent images of children.

The charges cover a period between December 2020 and August 2021, and include 41 indecent images of children.

The images range from the most serious category, known as category A, to the least serious, known as Category C.

They include seven category A images, 12 category B images, and 22 category C images.

Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine, the court was told.

– What do the different categories for indecent images mean?

The Sentencing Council, a public body sponsored by the Ministry Of Justice, defines category A images as those involving penetrative sexual activity, sexual activity with an animal, or sadism.

Category B images are those involving non-penetrative sexual activity, while category C images are indecent images that do not fall into A or B.

– What does it mean to “make” indecent images of a child?

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), “making” an indecent image has been broadly interpreted by the courts.

It can range from opening an attachment to an email containing an image, to accessing pornographic websites in which indecent photographs of children appear by way of an automatic “pop-up” mechanism.

In the case of Edwards, he received the illegal images as part of a WhatsApp conversation.

Speaking in Edwards’ defence, his barrister Philip Evans KC said his client had not “created” the images “in the traditional sense of the word”.

A number of potential defences to the charge exist, including not seeing the images and having no reason to believe that the images were indecent, having a legitimate reason to possess the images, or if the images were unsolicited and not kept for an unreasonable amount of time.

– Could Huw Edwards be sent to prison?

The maximum prison sentence for making an indecent image of a child is 10 years.

Sentencing guidelines set the starting point for any jail term for possession of a Category A image at 12 months, with a range of 26 weeks to three years.

The starting point is 26 weeks for a category B image, and a community order for category C.

Aggravating features to be taken into account for Edwards include that the images included moving images, and the young age of the child thought to be seven to nine years old in two of the category A images.

Mitigating factors are Edwards’ early guilty plea, his previous good character, his mental health issues, and his remorse.