The Sun newspaper has issued a statement after Huw Edwards was named – via a statement from his wife – as being the BBC star at the heart of an explicit photo scandal.
Vicky Flind said the BBC presenter had been admitted to hospital where he would remain ‘for the foreseeable future’.
The allegations faced by Mr Edwards – reported in the Sun newspaper – led to a wave of BBC presenters releasing statements to confirm they were not involved in the scandal.
A spokesperson for The Sun said: ‘The allegations published by The Sun were always very serious. Further serious allegations have emerged in the past few days.
‘It is right that the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team continues to investigate these thoroughly and deals with them in the way that they think is appropriate.
‘The Sun will cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process.
‘We will provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel.
‘The Sun has no plans to publish further allegations.
‘We must also re-emphasise that The Sun at no point in our original story alleged criminality and also took the decision neither to name Mr Edwards nor the young person involved in the allegations.
‘Suggestions about possible criminality were first made at a later date by other media outlets, including the BBC.
‘From the outset, we have reported a story about two very concerned and frustrated parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and payments from him that fuelled the drug habit of a young person.
‘We reported that the parents had already been to the police who said that they couldn’t help. The parents then made a complaint to the BBC which was not acted upon.
‘It is now for the BBC to properly investigate.’
Former BBC editor Tim Luckhurst has described Huw Edwards as ‘one of the kindest, most reliable, most inspirational colleagues I have ever had the pleasure to work with’- but defended the Sun over their coverage of the story.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Luckhurst said he was ‘absolutely stunned by the news’ and that it is ‘truly upsetting’.
He claimed Mr Edwards had done ‘a great deal for the BBC and for broadcasting in this country’ and that to find him in this position is ‘really quite shocking’.
Presenter Dan Walker said it was ‘an awful situation and will come as a big shock to many’ while BBC Two’s John Simpson said he feels ‘so sorry for everyone involved’
Journalist Jon Sopel described the allegations against Mr Edwards as ‘an awful and shocking episode.’
He tweeted: ‘There was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life. That doesn’t feel very private now.’
‘I hope that will give some cause to reflect. They really need to. I wish @thehuwedwards well.’
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