Teen allegedly paid by Huw Edwards 'felt groomed'
- Published
The young person at the centre of the original allegations against Huw Edwards has now said he feels "groomed" by the broadcaster.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, external, the man - who says he was paid by Edwards to send sexually explicit pictures of himself when he was a teenager - accused the former newsreader of feeding on his vulnerability.
The Metropolitan Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in that matter last year.
This week the ex-BBC presenter pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children in a separate case.
The Sun newspaper first broke the story about an unnamed young person's alleged contact with Edwards in July last year.
It published his mother's claim that Edwards - who at that point had not been named publicly - had paid her child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos over three years, beginning when they were 17.
In its original report, the Sun referred to the individual as a "young person" without identifying a gender.
A few days later, the lawyer representing the young person disputed their mother's account of events, saying "the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish".
In a letter to the BBC, the lawyer added "nothing inappropriate or unlawful" had taken place.
But in his new interview on Saturday, the young man now describes Edwards as "an A-class manipulator".
He said he had first contacted Edwards, as well as other celebrities, on social media to ask for help when he became homeless.
He said the 62-year-old sent him money, before beginning to ask if there was anything he would do for him in return.
"Although it was a friendship at the beginning, it did change. He would say things like, 'Are you going to do something for me then?' I needed help, so I did," he said.
"I feel like he sort of fed on my vulnerability... as he knew I needed the money. I felt like I was being groomed."
The young man says he sent explicit messages and videos to Edwards, who is said to have sent £35,000 over two years in return.
"Because of who he was as a BBC presenter and because he had such power...I felt like I trusted him and that he cared," the young man said.
"But that's how the manipulation started. I looked up to this man but he didn't really care about me.
"I felt like he was taking advantage of me but I felt I had to listen to him because he was Huw Edwards."
He said he had "stayed silent" to protect Edwards, but added he felt "sick" when he heard the news this week.
Elsewhere, the Sun published a video, external of Edwards allegedly waiting for the young man at a Welsh train station. The video is said to have been filmed by the young man's stepfather.
The stepfather told the newspaper: “I was so angry. I just wanted to confront him and tell him to stop doing what he was doing."
Edwards was suspended by the BBC in July last year. His wife subsequently publicly named him as the TV presenter at the centre of the allegations.
The young man said Edwards texted him from an unknown number last October.
"I think it was about two weeks before he got arrested. The message said 'guess who' or something like that," he said.
"The message said 'don't say my name on here... just call me'. So I phoned him and he said download the messaging app Signal. And he said we can catch up on there.
"He said, 'What's been going on? I really care about you'. He had no remorse for anything at all."
Edwards has never commented on the claims.
He resigned from the BBC in April citing medical advice.
On Wednesday, he admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.
They included seven category A images, the most serious classification - two of which showed a child aged between about seven and nine.
Police later revealed the man who sent the images to Edwards was a convicted paedophile.
Until last year, Edwards was one of the main presenters on BBC One's News at Ten and often fronted coverage of major national events.
He was charged last month and could now face a jail sentence. He will next appear in court on 16 September.
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