Disgraced former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards has left abuse campaigners outraged after he was handed a six month suspended sentence by the courts.
The former face of the broadcasting giant's news output pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, having paid over £1000 to a convicted paedophile for an estimated 41 illegal images.
Edwards is now required to sign the sex offenders' register for seven years and pay £3,128 in costs, plus a victim surcharge. He's also been asked to repay the £200,000 salary he's received from the BBC since his arrest.
Speaking to GB News, Founder and CEO of Freedom from Abuse Marilyn Hawes slammed the Westminster court for giving Edwards a suspended sentence, claiming that the former presenter is "only remorseful because he got caught".
Abuse campaigner Marilyn Hawes expressed her outrage at the former BBC broadcaster's suspended sentence
GB News / PA
Hawes fumed: "I've been doing this for years, and normally a case like this would go to the Crown Court, so I honestly do think it's just outrageous.
"I deal a lot with the people who have been abused and, you look at him arrogantly walking into court - he's only remorseful because he's been caught. Child abusers, they are arrogant, they are entitled, they're narcissistic, and he's displayed all of that. They have no empathy."
Hitting out at Edwards for the nature of his crime, Hawes said he was responsible for "real children in real time being brutally abused".
Hawes told GB News: "I'm not going to describe what those images are. I would just say, if anybody adult wants to look at the COPINE scale and look at Category A and see what he was watching, he's a grubby little toad.
Edwards was given a six month sentence, suspended for two years
PA
"These are not indecent images - these are real children in real time being brutally abused, some even murdered. And there's people getting off on it."
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When questioned by host Isabel Webster if there will be any sort of rehabilitation for the children involved in the content shared with Edwards, Hawes admitted that it is "very difficult" to track victims down once their images are on the dark web.
Hawes explained: "These images go down in the dark web and those poor kids, their images are out there forever. And I stress again - they're not indecent images, these are real children.
"The trouble is it's out there on the World Wide Web, and it's circling around for plenty of other people, like Huw Edwards, to buy them a great, great cost."
Offering her verdict on the suspended sentence, Hawes admitted that Edwards would be "very vulnerable" in prison and that the magistrate who decided on the sentence should "sit down and watch" the type of content Edwards was paying for.
Marilyn Hawes said Edwards is a 'grubby little toad' and his demeanour in court was 'arrogant and not remorseful'
GB News
Hawes raged: "I am outraged by this magistrate, they should sit down and watch these awful things. It's just debased. It's vile. If Huw had any remorse, any sense of conscience, he surely would give back some of that money that he earned.
"I think he's a nasty piece of work. And what didn't happen? Here we go again, the BBC not shining in glory. The BBC have said we will be looking at lessons from this period. Oh good Lord, spare me. They learnt nothing from Rolf Harris and Savile.
"They've just launched another child abuser in plain sight, haven't they? Why are people paying their licence? I'm not going to."
In a statement, a BBC spokesperson said: "We are appalled by his crimes. He's betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him."
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