Huw Edwards arrives at court this morning

Perhaps I should have said Anniebach, but I do speak with some insight spanning 40+ years of qualified psychi nurse experience. Not wishing to sound superior and I do take your point. Mental Illness is nothing to be viewed casually it can be devastating but certainly nothing for others to hide behind or to use to ellicit sympathy.

Years ago it was suggested there was a ring of similar men in high positions in TV, royalty etc. It was discounted at the time but now I'm thinking it might be true.

I don’t know people who view those images, don’t go by haircuts

So if Petra was wrong about him not being a lovely person then people who view indecent images of children can still be lovely people?

Yes I remember the threads on here. How vociferous people were when we dared to raise issues of child safeguarding.
His poor mental health though.

I agree about his mental health.

Excuse not explanation.

Well I may not be an expert but my family has certainly a lot of experience and heartache through it.

Excuse or explanation

As someone who suffers horrendously with my mental health and lost a brother to it, I am tired of. celebrities using it. Of course some suffer but I do not believe it is an excuse (yes an excuse) for being a pervert. HW may well have mental health issues but I don't believe the two are connected.

I did know there were so many experts in mental health on
GransNet

Exactly Petra, the BBC are compiling quite a track record of serious mishandling of these appalling revelations. How deep does it go, how long has it been going on, how many more evil employees of the BBC are there lurking under their protective umbrella of silence. Mental health be b***ered it’s not an illness it’s sheer self gratifying depravity. My heart weeps for the children.

No Allsorts you were not wrong,

I do wonder about the BBC and also the tone of some posters who can be quite rude to put it mildly. It's a discussion thread not a court of law.
I always thought what a lovely person he was and good at his job. How wrong was I. Feel so sorry for his familyy..

Oh, I do.
Probably a flaw on my part, but there it is.

I'm a bit of a black and white thinker.

In my opinion anyone who harms children in any way should be locked up for the rest of their lives so that they can’t do it to anymore helpless children
Rehab doesn’t help people like this there is no cure, believe me I worked in mental health for over 30 years at a senior level, it’s nothing to do with their mental health they are just sick evil people
Anyone defending him should think of the life long harm those children have suffered and the families they go on to have often also suffer and so do the parents of the victims.
So forget the nice gently spoken news reader because behind that facade is an evil peadophile

Doodledog: A pension of £300k!! I suppose if he's paid into it it can't be taken away, and it is part of his salary. It doesn't seem fair though, as presumably he's been doing this for a lot longer than we know. The police can have their pension withdrawn if they are sacked for misconduct …

There was an interesting article in Pensions Age in relation to Sadiq Khan’s request that convicted police officer Wayne Couzens be stripped of both his police pensions:

www.pensionsage.com/pa/images/PA_May_23_PensionsForeiture.pdf

He was stripped of his Met pension but had a deferred pension from previous service wth the Civil Nuclear Constabulary which Khan wanted stripped too.

Regulation 6(1)(c) of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Assignment, Forfeiture, Bankruptcy etc) Regulations 1997 makes clear that any public service occupational pension scheme can be forfeited where (i) the member is convicted of an offence committed in connection with their service as a public servant, and (ii) a Minister of the Crown certifies that the commission of that offence has been gravely injurious to the interests of the state or is liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service.

The legal question, therefore, is whether the offence was committed in connection with his [Couzens] service. It is certainly arguable if “his service as a public servant” covers the entirety of the service period, i.e. from starting at the CNC until the end of his time at the Met. There is a serious possibility, however, that it will be interpreted as the service to which the pension relates, meaning that there would have to be a connection between the crime and the CNC service.

In Edwards' case, his doesn’t appear to be misconduct on the job but some of the press coverage does suggest that he may have used his position with BBC, his fame, to make these connections with young men so I’d say whether he keeps or loses his pension is moot.

I have never rationed pity

I feel no pity for him at all.
The victims, and their families, of course.

Probably because HE is a 'big name' and they thought no one would believe them, as is often the case.

Although what he has done is really awful, I'm afraid I can only pity him. He is mentally very unwell and his life is now in ruins. Must say I never found him creepy in the least, he was always a reassuring voice, so very sad for all concerned, especially his family.

Kate1949 Fri 02-Aug-24 11:25:06
It's an insult to people who have real mental health problems for people to use it as an excuse for disgusting behaviour.

Excuse ? you know this ? or been reading the Mail ?

Radio journalists on the inside track , must be true , wonder why they didn’t speak out sooner

Twice in past few days I have heard radio journalists - those on the ‘inside track’ - state with confidence that HE was well known in meeja circles for his enthusiasm for young men working in junior positions.

Indeed to the point where complaints about HE’s behaviours were logged at the BBC.

So much for BBC standards, what does the BBC NOT do for the talent pool?

I hope so. I am cynical about such assessments. How many times have the 'experts' had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Kate1949

He will have the best legal team money can buy. No doubt they will build a strong case citing mental health issues. Never mind the mental health issues of the children in the images he viewed.

But hopefully there will also be an independent Forensic Psychiatric assessment and report..