Huw Edwards scandal: BBC ‘in touch’ with family of person at centre of explicit photos allegations – corporation boss Tim Davie
BBC boss Tim Davie says the corporation has been in touch with the family of a person at the centre of allegations surrounding Huw Edwards.
Speaking at a pre-arranged Lords Communications Committee session on Tuesday, the director-general said: “We have been in touch with the complainant, we want to be engaged and appropriately listening and understanding their concern”.
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‘We have been in touch with the complainant,’ says BBC director-general
The BBC has faced accusations it did not respond quickly enough to complaints from the family of the young person, after it took seven weeks for allegations to be put to Huw Edwards.
Mr Davie was also asked about holding the BBC’s high-paid talent to account, responding: “I think the history of this industry is such that we should all be concerned and appropriately diligent around the abuse of people in powerful positions”.
He added: “You need to ensure that you’re very, very clear on what your expectations are culturally, as well as the policy.”
He went on to say he was “proud” of the corporation’s code of conduct and values, calling the whistleblowing process by which staff can confidentially report concerns to an external support at work line “a safe place”.
He also confirmed to peers that high-profile presenters at the corporation have a clause in their contract about not bringing the BBC into disrepute.
Edwards, who is the BBC’s highest-earning newsreader, was accused of paying a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos.
‘Very wrong directions’
Acting chairwoman of the BBC Dame Elan Closs Stephens told peers despite “huge pressure” to name the presenter at the heart of the scandal, the corporation “had a duty to act with some calm and rationality in the face of lack of rationality and lack of calm”.
She said that duty of care was both to Edwards, the young person and the young person’s family involved “in this maelstrom”.
She went on: “I was on the one hand seeking to establish the right of the board to oversee what was happening, but at the same time, I was trying my best to make for a calm and rational discussion of the issue before we all got carried away in what could have been very wrong directions.”
The family of the young person had originally complained to the BBC in May, but allegations were not put to the presenter, or flagged to senior executives – including Mr Davie – until seven weeks later.
Appeal for information
Mr Davie, along with Dame Elan and policy director Clare Sumner, faced questions about the “adequacy” of the corporation’s governance arrangements and were asked to give updates on the progress of two reports, following the controversy.
The BBC is carrying out “fact-finding investigations” into Edwards, as well as a review to “assess how some complaints are red flagged up the organisation”.
Elaborating on the BBC’s general complaints process, he said a serious allegation would be passed on to its corporate investigations team where it would be assessed by “very experienced people”, and that from there “it could lead to a fact-finding and disciplinary or it might go to the authorities, or it might be dropped”.
Read more:
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Was The Sun right to publish allegations?
What friends and colleagues have said about Huw Edwards
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Essential oils perhaps? A cooling flannel to the forehead?
If Dame Elan Closs Stephens, acting chairwoman of the BBC, has any suggestions on how we journalists chill out, calm down, get a grip – which she clearly thinks we need to do – then please do pass them on.
In truth, I think I may need some tips on stress relief. The rare occasions when bosses at the corporation speak publicly about the Huw Edwards affair are starting to become an exercise in raising one’s blood pressure.
Director-general Tim Davie and Dame Elan fielding questions in parliament, a classic example of how
well-paid guardians of BBC yet again fail to see what the fuss is all about.
For clarity, accountability is an important pillar of the BBC. And yet top bosses seem to have an almost deluded approach to why we expect them to share what goes on behind the scenes.
Yes, finally, we have a few more answers about what’s now happening. Because of their duty of care to those involved, their fact-finding investigation could take weeks or months.
We now know that contractually high-profile presenters agree not to bring the corporation into disrepute.
That, finally, they’ve spoken with the original complainant and want to be “engaged and listening”. They’ve worked out how to make a phone call then?
Forgive the sarcasm, but when Dame Elan criticised the 40 journalists she spoke to on zoom for being so preoccupied by the scandal we failed to report on how well she and her team were handling events behind the scene, it somewhat took the biscuit.
Actually, I wasn’t rubbing my hands together with glee at reporting on the downfall of a well-respected news figure. More over I was contemplating bashing my head against a brick wall out of frustration over how impossible it is to get a straight answer out of the BBC.
For the record, Dame Elan, if you had “wished governance had been more to the fore but can’t dictate how it was reported…” all you had to do was come out and talk to us.
Don’t try to now sell the few brief words you gave to press at the start of a pre-arranged briefing on your annual report as you arranging a proper briefing on the matter, because it certainly wasn’t that.
You are tasked with protecting something precious. Journalists are tasked with making sure you’re doing your job. Accountability and openness is the least required of you.
When are reports due?
Addressing fact-finding probe into Edwards, Mr Davie highlighted the “difficult concerns” involved and appealed for anyone with information to get in touch, saying: “We’re keen to receive any information because we just want to understand anything that’s out there”.
Mr Davie said the report “could take weeks or it could take a couple of months, or even longer”.
With regard to the second review of the BBC’s protocols and procedures, Mr Davie said: “We are doing that work immediately,” adding that it would be delivered in “the autumn, maybe late autumn”.
It will be led by Simon Cuerden, a forensic partner at Deloitte and Sir Nick Serota, a senior independent director at the BBC.
Original allegations
Allegations that Edwards paid a teenager more than £35,000 for sexually explicit photos were first published in The Sun on Friday 7 July. The paper did not name him at the time.
Five days later, the Metropolitan Police said they did not believe any criminal activity had taken place and would be taking no further action.
Following intense speculation over the identity of the BBC presenter, Edwards’ wife, Vicky Flind, confirmed him as the man at the centre of the allegations.
In a statement, she said he was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and was “receiving in-patient hospital care”.
The Sun – who say they never alleged criminality – say they have no plans to publish further allegations against Edwards.
The young person at the centre of the controversy has said – via their lawyer – that their mother’s claims are “rubbish,” and that “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” has taken place.
Edwards, who has since been suspended, is also facing separate allegations from several other people in their early 20s.
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At the weekend, Sir Tony Blair told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the BBC should “stand up for itself more” when asked about its response to the situation.
As the face of BBC News At 10, the 61-year-old has previously led election night coverage, and broke the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. He was last on air on Wednesday 5 July, covering the King’s visit to Scotland.
Some have questioned The Sun’s decision to publish the original story, and the balance between publishing in the public interest versus the right to privacy has been thrust firmly into the spotlight.
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.
She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.
A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.
The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA
Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.
“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.
“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
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His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.
The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.
(L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters
Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.
Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.
Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.
Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.
The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.
Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.
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The Oscar-winning British director is known for films including American Beauty, First World War movie 1917, and Bond outings Skyfall and Spectre.
Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman said the close release of all four films in three years’ time will be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.
“We are going to dominate the culture that month,” he added.
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