WhatsApps reveal how Edwards urged paedophile to send ‘naughty pics and vids’

University student sent BBC newsreader images as their friendship flourished

When university student Alex Williams began contacting celebrities on social media, it was more in hope than expectation.
The 19-year-old, from South Wales, sent dozens of messages to famous people – but, unsurprisingly, heard nothing back.
That was until early 2018 when, after contacting Huw Edwards, the BBC newsreader and one of the best-known faces on British television, the pair began chatting.
It was the beginning of an exchange that would eventually result in Edwards’s spectacular self-destruction and leave him with a suspended prison sentence for committing a string of child sex offences.
Despite being one of the BBC’s most trusted voices, Edwards, the proudly Welsh news anchor, had been struggling with hidden demons that had wrecked his mental health and left him extremely vulnerable, Westminster magistrates’ court heard.
He was born in Bridgend in 1961, and his father Hywel Teifi Edwards was a prominent Welsh language academic and Plaid Cymru activist.
However, according to one psychiatrist who interviewed Edwards following his arrest, he endured a “psychologically challenging” upbringing.
The 63-year-old claimed that despite being “lauded outside the family”, his father had behaved “monstrously” at home and that – combined with the “puritanical” but “hypocritical” culture of the South Wales community – had left him suffering from “low self-esteem”.
He claimed this was further exacerbated when he failed to get into Oxford and went to Cardiff University instead.
Edwards said this had left him feeling like something of an “outsider” at the BBC, despite the fact he rose to become the corporation’s best-paid journalist and the man trusted to announce the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
He suggested it was this low self-esteem that had led him to take to social media and engage with people with whom he would otherwise not have had contact.
The newsreader’s presence on Instagram and WhatsApp also allowed him to renew his sexual interest in men, which he claimed he had been “managing” since 1994 – the year after he married Vicky Flind, a television producer.
It was against this backdrop that Edwards and Williams began exchanging messages with one another in the spring of 2018. Williams was one of several young people with whom Edwards was communicating on social media at the time. 
Perhaps because of their shared Welsh backgrounds – and other, more sinister, interests – their relationship quickly flourished. They shared a video call in May 2018 and even met in person on one occasion.
With Edwards increasingly beginning to explore his dormant bisexuality, the pair began to share male pornographic images. The majority of the photos and videos featured younger-looking adult males, which were lawful.
But by December 2020, with the country in lockdown, the exchanges between the pair began to take a dark and criminal turn.
Migrating to the encrypted WhatsApp platform, Williams, who had access to the dark web, began sharing indecent images of children. Edwards, in return, would send the cash-strapped student money and gifts, amounting in total to around £1,500.
A WhatsApp exchange between him and Edwards, recovered by officers, revealed a total of 377 sexual images, of which 41 were of children.
In one exchange Williams said he had “a file of vids and pics for you of someone special” and later sent three images of a child exposing themselves.
Williams later offered to send “12 videos and 42 pics” of someone he had shared images of previously. Asked “want me to send you the full file?”, Edwards replied: “Yes xxx…”.
The student then forwarded a series of images and videos featuring a child aged between 13 and 15 performing indecent acts. Included was a video considered by prosecutors to constitute Category A, the most serious level of child abuse images.
Four minutes after receiving the clip, Edwards replied “F—”, before the pair wished each one another a happy Christmas.
Later that day, Williams asked for a “Christmas gift”, telling Edwards he had further “hot” videos featuring the same child but saying the files were too large to send on WhatsApp.
The following day, Edwards asked him to send the material using the Dropbox app, which allows users to share large files.
After telling Williams he would watch the videos, Edwards then asked whether he was in direct communication with the subject.
A subsequent batch of screenshots bearing the word “adolesc” were then sent to Edwards, featuring a child aged 12 to 14 and featuring another Category A image.
Williams then requested another “Christmas gift” for “all the hot videos” and Edwards immediately responded: “What do you need?”
The student mentioned that he would like a pair of Nike Air Force 1 trainers, which cost around £100, and Edwards offered to send him twice that amount.
In early 2021, with pandemic lockdowns continuing, Edwards and Williams continued to exchange images, with one video entitled: “Boys Town Adolescents Presents 13yo Josh”.
On Feb 10 2021, a Category A video was sent to Edwards, which prosecutors said featured sexual acts featuring two children aged between seven and nine and 11 and 13.
Edwards did not respond but a week later Williams sent two more Category B and four Category C images, following up with the message “Is the stuff I’m sending too young for you?”
Three days later, Edwards replied: “Don’t send underage”.
In the following months, there were sporadic messages between the pair, and in August 2021 Williams messaged to say he had some “naughty pics and vids if you’d like?”
Edwards replied: “Go on”, and when Williams responded “yng”, he said: “Go on”.
Williams then sent a Category A video that featured a male child aged as young as seven being abused.
The pair discussed the fact the subject appeared very young-looking looking, but Edwards insisted it could be “deceptive” and asked if Williams “had any more”.
Williams replied that he did have but was not sure whether Edwards would like them as they were “illegal”, at which point the BBC newsreader replied: “Ah ok don’t”.
No further illegal images were shared between the pair, although they maintained contact throughout 2021 and early 2022.
In August 2022, Williams was arrested by South Wales Police, and his devices were seized. As a result, the exchanges with Edwards were recovered by officers in November 2023.
They passed the material to Scotland Yard and, on Nov 8 2023, Edwards was arrested and interviewed under caution for the first time.
Williams appeared in court in Merthyr Tydfil in January and pleaded guilty to seven offences. On March 15, he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court and was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Little over a month later, on April 22, Edwards announced that he was resigning from the BBC.  Three days after that, he was interviewed under caution for a second time.
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service on May 1, and Edwards was formally charged with three offences on June 26.
He pleaded guilty at Westminster magistrates’ court on July 31 and was sentenced at the same court on Monday.
Avoiding an immediate custodial sentence, Edwards received six months suspended for two years, and will also have to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
He will have to complete a sex offender treatment programme and complete 25 sessions of a rehabilitation activity requirement.