Huw Edward's wife, Vicky Flind, said in her statement that he is "suffering from serious mental health issues" and is receiving in-patient hospital care.

She notes it's been well documented that he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

In 2022, Huw Edwards spoke to Men's Health UK about his mental health, describing how during his worst bout of depression he was unable to get out of bed.

Speaking to mental health campaigner and columnist Alastair Campbell, he said: "It's not anxiety, although it includes anxiety, but it tends to hit me in a strong wave and then go away.

"Things that you usually enjoy, you dread. You come into work and obviously you do a professional job, but you're kind of pushing your way through it.

"And, of course, if it's very bad - as it has been a few times over the course of 20 years - you can't work. During the worst one I had, I couldn't get out of bed."

This story contains a lot of distressing and difficult themes - organisations offering help and support with a host of issues are listed at BBC Actionline.

As we've been reporting, the Metropolitan Police has said there's no information to indicate a criminal offence has been committed.

We have also previously reported that another police force said they were contacted in April about the allegations first made in the Sun.

We've now seen a statement from South Wales Police, confirming it has found no evidence of any criminal offence being committed.

It does not name Huw Edwards, but says it has remained in contact with the Met Police and BBC following a meeting on Monday.

"At this time, there is no evidence that any criminal offences have been committed." It added that no ongoing enquiries were being carried out.

But the force said if evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues are identified in future, these will be investigated.

Saga underscores importance of privacy law debatepublished at 19:08 British Summer Time 12 July 2023

19:08 BST 12 July 2023

Dominic Casciani
Legal correspondent

Anyone with an ounce of humanity would grasp the extraordinary outcome tonight of this story.

Huw Edwards identified as the presenter alleged by The Sun for days to have obtained sexually explicit images from a 17-year-old.

And, almost exactly at the same time, the Metropolitan Police says that the allegations amounts to nothing - there's no evidence of a criminal offence.

This week has been more than a drama - it has had a direct impact on the lives of real people. And that is why the debate around a law that protects each of our private lives is so important in the modern media digital age.

Tonight, campaigners who want a new law of anonymity before criminal charge say the police's confirmation of no suspicion of a crime proves their point. People caught in a storm should not have to rely alone on suing after the reporting of bogus allegations, like Sir Cliff Richard successfully did in 2018.

More reaction is coming in now that Huw Edwards has been named as the BBC presenter at the centre of allegations being made.

BBC presenter John Simpson says: "I feel so sorry for everyone involved in this: for the Edwards family, for the complainants, and for Huw himself."

In a tweet,, external he writes that "no criminal offences were committed" - a reference to the Met confirming it had dropped its assessment of the claims - "so it’s a purely personal tragedy for everyone involved".

"Let’s hope the press leave them all alone now," Simpson adds.

The BBC presenter suspended over allegations about his private life has been named as Huw Edwards by his wife, who released a statement on her husband's behalf less than an hour ago. How did we get to this point?

• The Sun publishes its first report on Friday 7 July, carrying a mother's claims that an unnamed BBC presenter paid thousands to their 20-year-old child for explicit images over three years, starting when they were 17. It's an offence to obtain explicit images of someone under the age of 18
• Further allegations are published by the Sun on Saturday, and on Sunday, the BBC suspends a male member of staff, now known to be Edwards
• On Monday: BBC executives meet with the Metropolitan Police and the 20-year-old mentioned in the first Sun story denies the claims through lawyers
• On Tuesday: the Sun publishes two more stories containing further allegations, and the BBC publishes its own story with fresh claims
• The BBC also reveals a timeline of events, confirming claims were first reported to the broadcaster on 18 May. The presenter was only spoken to seven weeks later
• On Wednesday: police confirm they assessed no evidence of criminal activity after speaking to people involved in the initial allegations, and the paused BBC investigation resumes

• at the same time, Flind issues her statement confirming Edwards was the presenter involved and that he had been hospitalised after a serious mental health episode. Edwards intends to respond to the stories that have been published once he is able to, Flind's statement said

Jon Sopel, a former BBC journalist who has been North America editor, a political correspondent and presenter, tweets:

"This is an awful and shocking episode, where 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, external⁩ well."

Sopel left the BBC last year and now hosts The News Agents podcast.

Katie Razzall, the BBC’s culture editor, said the naming of Huw Edwards is “a huge shock to viewers” as well as "a big shock to all of us at BBC News”.

"This is such dramatic news, this is a man who has embodied BBC values, has been the face of the BBC, has held the viewers’ hands through so many of the momentous parts of our nation’s history - whether it’s elections, royal events, the Queen’s death or the King’s coronation," says Razzall.

Razzall said that at the time the statement came from Huw Edwards' wife naming him, BBC News could at that point say it knew the identity of the presenter but had not been able to name him for legal reasons. "Now we are able to," she concluded.

Huw Edwards, 61, is a household name and one of the BBC's best-known presenters.

• He has worked for the BBC for four decades, including two decades as the lead presenter on the BBC's flagship Ten O'Clock news
• He has anchored many key moments, including the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the weddings of Prince William and Kate and of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Queen's Diamond and Platinum Jubilees, the inauguration of US President Barack Obama and the death of Nelson Mandela
• He was brought up in Wales and studied at Cardiff University where he is now an honorary professor of journalism
• He is one of the BBC's highest paid employees, earning between £435,000 and £439,999 for 2022/23
• He lives in London with his wife and five children
• Edwards has spoken out in the past about his struggles with depression

Here is Vicky Flind's statement on behalf of her husband, given to PA news agency, in full:

"In light of the recent reporting regarding the 'BBC Presenter' I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.

"I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.

"Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

"The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.

"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.

"To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.

"In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.

"I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."

In her statement, Vicky Flind said her husband Huw Edwards is "suffering from serious mental health issues" and is now "receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future" as she asked for privacy for her family.

Vicky Flind, the wife of news reader Huw Edwards, has named him as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images in a statement issued on his behalf.

The BBC has released its own statement following the Met saying there is no evidence of a criminal offence:

“We have seen the statement from the police confirming they have completed their assessment and are not taking further action. We’re grateful to them for completing this work at speed.

“The police had previously asked us to pause our fact finding investigations and we will now move forward with that work, ensuring due process and a thorough assessment of the facts, whilst continuing to be mindful of our duty of care to all involved.”

Here's a bit more from the Met police's Specialist Crime Command, who say they have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.

In reaching this decision, they have spoken to a number of parties including the BBC and the alleged complainant and the alleged complainant’s family, both via another police force.

They say there is no further police action and as such, the Met has advised the BBC it can continue with its internal investigation.

The force says it is aware of media reporting of further allegations against the same individual. No specific details or information about these allegations have been passed to the force and therefore there is no police action at this time, the statement adds.

Should evidence of criminality or safeguarding issues be identified at any point we would expect matters to be referred to the relevant police force, it says.

Detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command have now concluded their assessment and have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offence has been committed.

The Sun is part of a "media ecosystem" - News UK - that is "extremely good at amplifying its own reporting", a journalist who used to work for the company has said.

Jake Kanter, investigations editor at Deadline, said the Sun's story about the BBC presenter has been "talked about endlessly in the outrage machine that is TalkRadio and TalkTV" - both media organisations that fall under the News UK brand.

Kanter is the former media correspondent at the Times, which is also owned by News UK.

"Then you have politicians that work for that news station, someone like [Conservative MP] Nadine Dorries, commenting on the story, saying the BBC is not doing enough here and accusing the BBC of a cover-up.

"So this all works in the favour of News UK and they've got the BBC right where they want them," Kanter tells the BBC's Media Show.

It's been five days since the Sun published its first story about the BBC presenter.

Here's a quick summary of the four sets of allegations:

• On Friday, the Sun's first story is published about the mother's claims that a BBC presenter paid their child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos over three years. The paper quoted the mother as saying the young person used the money to fund a crack cocaine habit, and that she was worried her child could "wind up dead". The lawyer representing the young person has since disputed the allegations, describing them as rubbish".
• On Tuesday afternoon, the BBC reports that a second young person had made allegations claiming the presenter pressured them to meet up and then sent abusive messages when they hinted at revealing their identity
• Last night, the Sun reports fresh claims from a 23-year-old who claimed that the presenter broke lockdown rules to meet them during the pandemic in February 2021 and sent them cash
• Separately, the Sun publishes messages allegedly sent to a 17-year-old after a conversation was initiated on Instagram in October 2018

Image source, Getty Images

As claims and counter-claims surrounding a BBC presenter continue to dominate the headlines, there are still many questions about what happened and how the story has been handled.

One area under scrutiny is how the Sun has reported the story.

For example, what evidence has the newspaper seen that the young person sent explicit photos to the presenter when they were 17, as the paper reported?

Why has the Sun not named the presenter?

And why hasn't the paper's editor - or the reporters who worked on the story - agreed to do interviews?

Read more

Image source, Paul Ellis/PA Wire

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just been giving a press conference at a Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he has been asked by a journalist for the Sun newspaper whether he thinks the unnamed BBC presenter should resign.

Sunak did not answer the question directly, instead saying: "The police have asked the BBC to suspend their inquiry whilst they do their assessment. And I think it is right we let that continue.

"I personally was concerned by the allegations - they are serious and it is right they are investigated swiftly and rigorously. I'm glad that that's happening and we should let that continue."

Paul Glynn
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Broadcasters need to ensure procedures are in place to quickly flag up issues such as that of the BBC presenter, Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon has said.

The corporation has been criticised for its handling of initial complaints from the family of the young person at the centre of the Sun's original allegations.

On Tuesday, BBC director general Tim Davie said he had ordered a review of how "complaints are red-flagged up the organisation".

Now, during its own annual report press briefing on Wednesday, C4 boss Ms Mahon said: "The key thing for us is to make sure that our procedures would flag something like that to us.

"We have a 'speak up' procedure that is on every call sheet that goes out on every production, and those instances are described to us as senior management, to me, within 24 hours, if something comes in."

She added the predicament "doesn't look easy" for the BBC.

Read more: a timeline of how the story has unfolded

Not every high-profile broadcaster agrees with Jeremy Vine that the BBC presenter accused of wrongdoing should reveal themselves.

Responding to Vine's call that was first made late on Tuesday and again earlier today, former BBC presenter Richard Bacon wrote on Twitter, external that Vine should "stop it" and that he was "more emotionally intelligent than this".

"We don’t know the complexities of what his family are going through. Or what dark thoughts are running through his head.

"Irrespective of what he’s done wrong. You can walk off people wrongly guessing it’s you for 5 minutes," he said.

Bacon has continued with his criticism of Vine today, suggesting on Twitter that the Channel 5 and BBC Radio 2 host was calling for the unnamed BBC presenter to "come forward for the good of [Jeremy Vine]".

Vine has said the presenter should name themselves and "show some degree of concern" for colleagues who have been falsely accused, as well as the reputation of the BBC itself.