Horrified by Huw Edwards case and sentence

I worked in child protection for years and also as a magistrate, where I had to view similar images to those Huw Edwards would have accessed. After 20 years, the horror of having to do that has not left me. I cannot believe that, in effect, Edwards has avoided a prison sentence (Huw Edwards given suspended sentence for accessing indecent images of children, 16 September). If the parents of one of those abused children had been able to be in court to deliver an impact statement, it would have been devastating. Imagine if it was your child in that situation. Abused online and seen by thousands. The psychosexual therapist’s report apparently talks of psychological factors in Edwards’ childhood. I’m afraid many offenders of all hues have those, but rarely is much notice taken of them when they refer to an offender who does not have Edwards’ public profile.
Name and address supplied

• The excuses given in mitigation about Huw Edwards’ behaviour would be risible if the matters weren’t so serious. After all, we are talking about a man who was capable of other exploitative behaviour, is wealthy, and had access to the support of the BBC. Worse, the phone that Edwards used to access the images has been “lost”, so we’ll never know the full extent of what Mr Edwards was up to with this phone, nor who else he was communicating with.
Mark Bill
Liverpool

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