The mum who blew the whistle on Huw Edwards for inappropriately interacting with her child online has spoken out.
Edwards has now pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.
The former BBC broadcaster admitted to having 41 child sex abuse images on WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.
The 62-year-old committed the three offences between December 2020 and April 2021, the court heard.
While Edwards’ alleged online interactions with the whistle blower’s teen are not a part of the currently unfolding court case, her and her family did go to The Sun in July of last year to complain about Edwards.
They did not believe the BBC were taking their concerns about Edwards seriously enough and had reportedly begged the BBC to make Edwards ‘stop sending cash’ to their teen as they believed the money was going towards drug use.
Their complaint also included that Edwards had asked for sexual pictures and had other inappropriate interactions with their teen.
Now, speaking out in the wake of Edwards’ guilty plea, she told The Sun: ‘It sickens me to my core that he had those videos of that little boy when he was also talking to my child and asking them for sexual pictures.
‘I knew he was an abuser – but now I know he is truly a monster.’
She said the whole affair sometimes made her want to die, saying she often felt the whole world was against her and that it would be ‘best if I wasn’t here anymore.’
She also explained how people rushing to defend Edwards made her realise why so few people ever speak up about abuse. She continued: ‘They all said we had destroyed Huw’s life and seemed to think we just wanted money.’
All of the backlash made living a normal life hard, the whistleblower revealed, saying that even some family members turned on them in the wake of the news, saying: ‘I felt so alone.’
But now that Edwards has plead guilty, she hopes that some of the people who doubted her family will apologise.
The teen’s stepfather, who originally made the complaint, agreed that: ‘Everyone who doubted us needs to take accountability.
He said that while they didn’t want to go public with their claims, they felt they had no choice.
The devastated mother continued that she knew Edwards had exploited her teen, as she was, ‘shown a video of him in his boxers on webcam waiting for a performance.’
She even shockingly revealed that after her teen thanked Edwards for sending money, Edwards replied: ‘”I love you don’t forget.’” This message, along with the many others, she claims were all sent to the BBC at the time of the initial complaint.
Some of these messages reveal Edwards attempting to meet up with her teen andeven telling the teen to delete messages so no one would see, according to the whistleblower.
Still, even with knowledge of Edwards’ predatory behaviour, the mother was shocked to learn the extent of Edwards’ crimes, saying: ‘I was shocked when I heard the full extent of the charges that came out this week – and their ages.
‘When I heard about the video of the seven to nine-year-old boy I broke down in tears.’
The mother said that her child’s cousin had revealed to her that the older man sending her child money was a famous person with grey hair, but it took her much longer to discover his true identity.
She said: ‘I was finally told it was Huw and he had been asking for sexual pictures from my teenage child.’
When the family initially complained to the BBC about Edwards’ actions, they were referred to the Audience Services team at the broadcaster. Two months later, they took their story to The Sun, frustrated with what they perceived as inaction on the part of the BBC.
The story did not name Edwards as the broadcaster in question, but the presenter was taken off air and suspended three days later.
Police said an investigation into Edwards began after a phone seized by officers as part of an unrelated probe revealed the broadcaster’s participation in a WhatsApp conversation.
The court heard that Edwards had been involved in online chat with an adult man on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.
The mother said that while there is relief at seeing Edwards facing justice, there is still a lot of pain.
‘We’ve suffered as a family immensely for over a year. We got no answers when Huw quit from the BBC and have been left in the dark.
‘I expected the BBC investigators to want to go through these messages and evidence with me to explain what was happening to my child at the time, but they didn’t seem interested.’
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She also said that her complaint meant her teen did not speak to her for a prolonged period of time, but that they are beginning to reconcile.