A man who claims former BBC anchor Huw Edwards paid him $45,000 for pornographic images as a teen broke his silence to the Daily Mirror on Friday, telling the outlet he felt “groomed.”
Edwards, 62, pled guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in a London court on Wednesday after being arrested in November 2023 and then charged in June.
The court found 41 indecent images had been sent to Edwards in WhatsApp conversations, some containing children as young as seven.
The man told the Mirror he was in a vulnerable state at the time couch-surfing and sleeping in a homeless shelter for a few nights, which he described as “scary” after he had a “falling out” with his mother and step-father. That’s when he started reaching out to celebrities for help. After seeing Edwards on T.V. he sent him a message on social media.
Edwards and the man began messaging. Edwards sent him $640 for a hotel stay, and subsequently asked him, “are you going to do something for me then?”
“I needed help, so I did. I feel like he sort of fed on my vulnerability… as he knew I needed the money. I felt like I was being groomed,” the man said. “I felt like he was taking advantage of me but I felt I had to listen to him because he was Huw Edwards.”
Edwards sent a combined $45,000 over the two years they messaged, according to the man’s PayPal account.
“In my head I wasn’t selling pictures of myself I was just getting the money he said he would give me to help me,” he added.
Edwards was caught red-handed after the man’s mother got a hold of his phone. The two had organized to meet at Cardiff station and the man’s mother began texting Edwards as if she were him.
“My step-dad then turned up and recorded Huw at the station,” he said.
Edwards then called the man asking “what the hell is going on?” The man initially defended Edwards, asking his mom, “what have you done?”
The man’s mother then complained to the BBC, which, initially, did not act, so she went to the Sun. A few days later, the BBC suspended Edwards after the Sun publishing a story about Edwards’ relationship with the man.
Months later, in Oct. 2023, an unknown number messaged the man saying “guess who.” It was Edwards, asking the man “What’s been going on? I really care about you.”
“He had no remorse for anything at all,” the man said.
Edwards was arrested a month later.
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