Josie Gibson’s ‘blood boils’ over BBC paying Huw Edwards £479,000 salary

Josie Gibson has expressed her anger over the BBC paying Huw Edwards a salary of between £475,000 and £479,000 before he resigned from the broadcaster in April.

The 62-year-old veteran presenter pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday to making indecent images of children after committing three offences between December 2020 and April 2021.

He admitted accessing indecent images of children, some as young as seven, after a man he met online sent him hundreds of sexual images via WhatsApp.

It has since emerged that the BBC was aware of his arrest in November, on suspicion of serious offences, but kept him on until April, when he resigned on medical advice.

According to the BBC’s latest annual report, he was paid between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24 before his departure.

The latter salary represented a £40,000 pay rise compared to 2022/23, when his salary was between £435,000 and £439,999.

Josie said on Thursday’s This Morning programme: ‘It makes my blood boil, my absolute blood boils.’

Of the charges against Edwards, she said: “As a mother, this gives me goosebumps.”

When the conversation turned to his salary, Tim Campbell explained: ‘It’s really tough. As an employer, you sometimes have to deal with disciplinary action, where you have to suspend someone while they’re under investigation. On top of that, the amounts that are being quoted about paying someone can be very inflammatory because no one wants someone who’s already pleaded guilty to receiving taxpayers’ money.’

Josie then repeated the allegations, which related to indecent images of a child under the age of nine, saying: “I’m furious.”

“I agree with Josie, it is really disturbing,” added co-host Craig Doyle, who pushed for a new clause that would allow for some of the salary to be paid back.

The court heard that between December 2020 and August 2021, Edwards was involved in an online chat on WhatsApp with an adult man, who sent him 377 sexual images, 41 of which were indecent images of children.

The majority of these, 36, were sent over a two-month period.

On February 2, 2021, the man asked if what he was sending was too young, to which Edwards told him not to send images of minors, the court heard.

The offensive images sent were seven category A (the worst), 12 category B and 22 category C.

Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was estimated to be 13 to 15 years old, but one child was between seven and nine years old, the court was told.

The last offensive photo was submitted in August 2021; it concerns a Category A film starring a young boy.

The man told Edwards that the boy looked quite young and that he had other images that were illegal.

Edwards told the court he was not allowed to send illegal images.

No further messages were sent and the two continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022.

The BBC has said Edwards would have been fired if he had been charged while he was still employed, but he was no longer working for the company at the time of the charges in June.

Following his guilty plea on Wednesday, a BBC spokesperson said: ‘In November 2023, while Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC, as his employer at the time, was informed confidentially that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and had been released on bail while police continued their investigation.

‘No charges had been brought against Mr Edwards at the time and the BBC was also aware of the significant risk to his health.’

The corporation added: ‘The BBC is shocked by the details that have emerged in court today. There is no place for such appalling behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.

‘Today we have taken note of the outcome of the police trial, as set out in detail in the documents submitted to the court.

‘If Mr Edwards had been charged at any time during his employment with the BBC, the BBC would have decided that they would dismiss him immediately. Ultimately, at the time of the charge, he was no longer an employee of the BBC.

‘During this period the BBC has, as is customary, kept the corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions.’

When the annual report was published, BBC Director General Tim Davie defended Edwards’ £40,000 pay rise, saying: ‘We always try to be very sensible about how public money is spent and nobody wants to waste a pound.

‘But what you’re trying to do, and from the very beginning of the affair, was to try to act proportionately and fairly and deal with this in the right way.

“I think we did that… but I think we wouldn’t have wasted money if we didn’t do the right thing.”

Davie will now face questions from Culture Minister Lisa Nandy about what the company knew about Edwards’ affair. Questions are also likely to be asked about why he continued to receive his high salary – as the company’s highest-paid newsreader – for five months after he was arrested on charges of taking indecent images of children.

Edwards was released on bail after pleading guilty on Wednesday and is due to appear again in Westminster Crown Court on September 16.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.

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