Disgraced BBC News presenter Huw Edwards was paid by the BBC for five months following his arrest as the corporation urge him to pay back the £200,000 wage

Huw Edwards is yet to return any of his £200,000 salary to the BBC, bosses have revealed.

The disgraced BBC News presenter pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children and narrowly avoided jail. Last year, he was given six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to having made seven Category A indecent images of children – the worst type – as well as 12 Category B, and 22 Category C images.

In a case that shocked the country, Westminster Magistrates Court heard disturbing details of Edwards’ communications with convicted paedophile Alex Williams who, between the years 2018 and 2021, sent the once well-regarded journalist indecent images of children.

Edwards first joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984 and was once the corporation’s top-earning newsreader. He raked in between £475,000 and £479,999 for the fiscal year 2023/24, as per the BBC’s most recent annual report. Even after his arrest in November 2023, Edwards continued to be paid by the BBC right up until his resignation five months later. The BBC insisted they were demanding Edwards pay back his salary for that period – but he still hasn’t paid a penny.

A senior BBC executive has now said no talent is “untouchable” or “bigger than the BBC” after a string of high-profile former employees made headlines due to allegations about their behaviour while working at the corporation. BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah addressed the numerous reviews the corporation has had to conduct in the last few years into former presenters including Edwards, Russell Brand and Tim Westwood while appearing before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday.

Edwards has refused to pay back his wage ( 
Image:
Getty Images)
He confirmed the corporation has not been able to recover any salary from former broadcaster Edwards yet, which he described as “quite frustrating”. After his guilty plea in July, the BBC asked him to return his salary, which he was paid during the period following his arrest in November 2023 until he resigned in April 2024.

Asked if they have been able to recover any salary from Edwards, Dr Shah said: “We have not. We’ve obviously asked, and we’ve said it many times, but he seems unwilling. There was a moment that we thought that he might just do the right thing for a change, then he decided not to.

He added: “It’s quite frustrating this, really, because I think he should have done it. He could still do it. It’s not right. He’s taken licence fee payers’ money and he knew what he’d done and he should return it now.” The BBC director general also confirmed the corporation has sought legal advice and there is nothing more it can do at this stage.

Dr Shah added: “No-one is untouchable. No-one is bigger than the BBC… It’s really, really important. It’s 2025, we can’t have this kind of behaviour and find it acceptable. It’s certainly true that, looking at Tim Westwood’s behaviour, that would not be possible now, but there are others. We just have to make sure that the BBC is a modern organisation. People who work for it feel able to voice their concerns, if they have any, and that they will be dealt with, and that no-one in the BBC is untouchable.” BBC director general Tim Davie agreed that the message to BBC staff is that “everyone is dispensable”.