The country’s worst kept secret has finally come out. In a shocking statement, the wife of Huw Edwards, the hitherto anonymous presenter at the center of sexual misconduct allegations, named him.
Vicky Flind, a respected television producer who works on ITV’s Peston programme, came out into the open this afternoon and shocked the BBC and beyond.
Edwards’s name had been one of many circulating on the Internet in recent days. Almost everyone working in the media knew that he was the individual accused of soliciting indecent images of a vulnerable teenager in exchange for money, allegedly £35,000, which the youngster used to finance a drug addiction.
For legal reasons, we couldn’t say or print it, but we knew. Like, of course, all those other BBC presenters whose names were dragged through the mud on Twitter and social media.
This is why everyone was, rightly, so outraged by the BBC’s apparent inaction in revealing the identities of the defendants or even issuing a statement clearing their names.
SARAH VINE: In a shocking statement, the wife of Huw Edwards, the hitherto anonymous presenter at the center of sexual misconduct allegations, named him
Vicky Flind, a respected TV producer who works on ITV’s Peston show, came out this afternoon (pictured together in 2018)
What Flind has done – identifying her own husband and finally putting an end to malicious speculation – is therefore not only extremely courageous, but also morally exemplary.
She has made the decision to put many people out of their misery, while inevitably drawing attention to her own and her five children with Edwards. I can only imagine what they and she are going through.
It is important to note that your statement in no way counts as your husband’s admission of guilt: you are merely confirming that he is the accused. And Scotland Yard has dropped its investigation into the allegations, saying that as far as the police are concerned, no crime has been committed.
But even if no crime has taken place, the fact remains that the idea of Edwards, that self-described beacon of straight-forward journalism for the BBC, allegedly soliciting images of young people speaks to worrying hypocrisy and is completely at odds with someone of his position. .
In addition to the original charges, he was subsequently charged with breaking lockdown rules of staying home to meet another young man, texting a 17-year-old with love hearts and kisses, and sending threatening messages to a person in their twenties. whom he met on a dating app.
Of course, it may turn out that none of these things happened. But there is stark contrast between these claims and the public image of the man who led the nation by televised coverage of the late Queen’s funeral, not to mention the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Diamond Jubilee, the death of The Prince Philip and the coronation of King Charles.
Huw Edwards has been our faithful companion on the BBC’s flagship 10 o’clock news for as long as many of us can remember.
Not surprisingly, as Flind said in his statement, Edwards “suffers from serious mental health issues” and is receiving “hospital care where he will remain for the foreseeable future.”
Huw Edwards has been our full partner on the BBC’s flagship 10 o’clock news for as long as many of us can remember.
Unless he can prove to the public that these allegations are totally false, it’s hard to see how there could be a way back for him.
His wife spoke in her statement of her battle with depression over the years, perhaps as a way of trying to mitigate the situation. And one always has sympathy for anyone struggling with a serious mental health condition. But the problem for Edwards – and, by extension, for the BBC – is that he was very much the spokesman for the Corporation.
We’re not talking about a frivolous Radio 1 DJ: this is the man who succeeded David Dimbleby, the latest in a long line of revered BBC greats. It is an excessive perspective.
It is also a terrible shame.
As it is, your life’s job and reputation are in jeopardy. And once again, the public’s belief in the integrity of those in such high positions of power has been shaken to the core.
