Tim Davie says he can’t see Edwards working at BBC again

The BBC’s director general Tim Davie said he can’t see Huw Edwards working at the corporation again.

“This man has just been convicted of appalling crimes and it’s pretty straightforward in my mind, I can’t see him working here again,” he told BBC presenter Amol Rajan, at the Royal Television Society London Convention.

On Monday, disgraced BBC News presenter Edwards was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted charges of making indecent images of children.

Mr Davie said “for obvious reasons,” the former presenter was unlikely to come back to the organsation.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told on Monday that Edwards received more than 40 images over several months from a convicted sex offender – including some showing a victim aged between seven and nine.

Until last year, he was the BBC’s most senior news presenter and often fronted coverage of major national events.

Mr Davie said there was “shock” and “a lot of upset” within the BBC over Edwards, adding that people across the organisation feel “deeply, deeply let down”.

But he insisted it wasn’t about the BBC, but rather, about the victims and their families.

Edwards was the BBC’s highest-paid journalist, receiving between £475,000 and £479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024.

The BBC has asked him to return the £200,000 he earned between his arrest last November and his resignation this April.

The whole issue of pay did not come up in court on Monday.

Addressing the matter, Mr Davie said discussions were ongoing about getting the salary back.

“We want the money back… we’ve asked for it back,” he said.

“There’s discussion between legal teams, that’s as far as I can go.”

Mr Davie was also asked about a disciplinary process the BBC launched into Edwards after the Sun claims last year.

That report, including details of other allegations made about him, has never been published, leading to accusations of a lack of transparency.

“My instincts are always about being fair, transparent, as much as we can,” Mr Davie said.

“But there is something that if you have made an allegation as a disciplinary process, that is not a public matter.”

Mr Davie insisted that anyone who came forward was “taken seriously, they were listened to”.

He also said the BBC board needs to “sign off” a review into workplace culture which was launched following the Huw Edwards allegations.

The director general was also asked about whether Edwards will be removed from the BBC archives.

“We never completely ban and rip someone out of the archive,” he said.

But he added: “I’m not seeing a scenario in which any Huw Edwards material is used in day-to-day programming.”

Later, BBC chairman Samir Shah refused to be drawn on when the workplace culture review would be published.

When asked by a reporter for BBC-produced Newyddion S4C outside the BBC’s Cardiff office, he said it would “take time” and that the BBC has to do “this properly”.

“We’ll announce it as soon as it’s ready,” he said.

In July, Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. Under the law, images can mean photos or clips.

The offences were committed between December 2020 and August 2021.

Sentencing him, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring remarked that the former broadcaster’s “long-earned reputation” was “in tatters”.

After the sentencing, a BBC spokesperson said the corporation was “appalled” by Edwards’ crimes.

“He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”

Edwards will be placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

He was also told to attend a sex offender treatment programme.

On a totally separate matter, Mr Davie was asked about the investigation into Amanda Abbington’s complaint about her former Strictly dance partner Giovanni Pernice.

He didn’t give a date for when it would be published, but insisted: “We’re pretty close to the end of that work.”

He was asked whether it would’ve been useful to publish it ahead of the new series starting.

“Many things in life would be useful, but we have to do the process,” he said.

In June, it was confirmed that Pernice would not return for the new series.

It comes after Abbington made allegations about how he treated her on the show.

Pernice has denied any allegations of abusive or threatening behaviour.