Experts say Huw Edwards should have been jailed for accessing child abuse images and the law MUST...
EXCLUSIVE Experts say Huw Edwards should have been jailed for accessing child abuse images and the law MUST now be changed
, updated
Huw Edwards should have been jailed for possessing child porn and the 'sickening' decision to let him walk free shows the system is completely broken, one of the UK's leading experts declared today.
Jim Gamble, a former police officer who was head of UK’s child exploitation and online protection command, has urged Sir Keir Starmer to show he is 'serious' about tackling child abuse by changing the law.
Edwards was given a suspended sentence despite being sent 41 indecent images of children by a convicted paedophile . The disgraced BBC newsreader called some of them ‘amazing’ and begged for ‘more’.
Mr Gamble says that the only proper way to protect children from offenders like Edwards is to make prison sentences mandatory for possessing child abuse images and video.
He said: 'The reason we are not deterring people from offending is that sentencing is too soft. Anyone who makes, possesses or distributes a video of a child being raped should go to prison. No ifs, no buts’.
MailOnline research has revealed that today just under 20 per cent of people caught with child porn in the UK are sent to prison. In the US it is 99.1 per cent.
In Britain the average sentence for a first time offender is around a two-year suspended sentence. Across the Atlantic it is approximately eight-and-a-half years in prison.
Yesterday Edwards was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and must attend a 40-day Sex Offender Treatment Programme despite telling a paedophile that a folder of sick child abuse images was ‘amazing’.
Edwards also asked for ‘more’ after receiving a video of a child aged between seven and nine engaged in a sex act, the court was told.
Yet he was spared jail at Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Jim Gamble said: ‘Let’s prove we’re serious about it by when people are caught, send them to prison. With drink driving there is no ifs, buts and maybes about taking someone’s licence. You know there is an absolute consequence. We have to get to that point.
‘The fact is that if the public saw one of the videos of a child being raped everyone who possesses or shares them would go to prison.
‘Less than 20% of those convicted of this type of offence go to jail. The reason this case is getting so much attention is because of his [Edwards'] profile.
'It’s sickening, because everyone of these cases is about the sexual assault, rape and re-victimisation of a child. We have got our priorities all wrong. Let’s send people who use images of our children being abused to prison it’s the least we can do to deter others'.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was “really shocked and appalled” by Edwards’s crimes - but is being urged to go further and put more men like the broadcaster behind bars .
'We've got to begin in the government, most definitely, by leading by example. And that is making sure there's an absolute consequence if you download one of these images, you are going to go to prison. And that's where we need to begin', Mr Gamble said.
Yesterday Edwards was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and must attend a 40-day Sex Offender Treatment Programme despite telling a paedophile that a folder of sick child abuse images was ‘amazing’.
Edwards also asked for ‘more’ after receiving a video of a child aged between seven and nine engaged in a sex act, the court was told.
Yet he was spared jail at Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Huw Edwards ' BBC ex-colleagues are disgusted by his crimes and believe he should have been sent to prison and forced to give back the £200,000 he was paid by their bosses after his arrest, MailOnline revealed yesterday.
The ex-newsreader was spared jail after admitting three charges of 'making' indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp.
The 63-year-old sent hundreds of pounds to Williams, who sent him porn, some of which he called 'amazing'. The disgraced broadcaster had also told the convicted paedophile 'go on' when asked if he wanted 'naughty pics and vids' of somebody described as young.
Edwards also wrote 'yes xxx' when he was asked by Williams if he wanted sexual images of a person whose 'age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16'. He was also sent two pornographic videos of a child aged between seven and nine-years-old.
A BBC spokesperson said after its former broadcaster Huw Edwards was sentenced: 'We are appalled by his crimes . He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.'
Director General Tim Davie is yet to comment but one former colleague told MailOnline: 'He should be in prison. He was chatting with a paedo for four years who then sent him child porn. And he didn't go to the police. Yet he's in court trying to suggest he is a victim. It would be laughable if it wasn't so abhorrent'.
Another insider said that Edwards' crimes were 'so sick'.
A well-placed source with links to the BBC and ITV has said that the evidence that emerged in court yesterday against Edwards is so shocking he will never work again.
'He is over', he said, adding: 'The BBC must be broken up' due to the way bosses handled the scandal and his suspension.
He said that yet another abuse scandal after Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris is 'killing its legacy'.
Edwards, who resigned from the BBC in April, has been asked to repay the £200,000 salary he has received since his arrest .
He has so far refused. And will also keep his pension.
BBC staff have described being 'warned' about 'thin-skinned' Edwards when they started working there - and said that he should be put in prison for what he has done.
Culture and Media Editor Katie Razzall said that when she joined the corporation, she was given specific advice about how to handle the disgraced newsreader.
'You can be funny', they said. 'But don't be funnier than Huw',', adding: 'You can be clever, but don't be too clever',' Ms Razzall revealed.
MailOnline can reveal there is great animosity towards him at the Beeb, who have been rocked by yet another child sex scandal after Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris .
One BBC staffer said: 'He still hasn't repaid his salary and dragged us through the mud again.
'Many at the BBC want him to pay for what he has done. He has played the system'.
A former colleague said: 'Huw had huge talent and presence but has always been very prickly and thin-skinned'.
Edwards had stared down at the ground as he left court with his life in tatters after being handed a six-month suspended sentence for accessing sex abuse images of children as young as seven.
The 63-year-old previously admitted three charges of 'making' indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams over WhatsApp .
At Westminster Magistrates' Court, Edwards held his hands together and leaned forward throughout his sentencing hearing. He then let out a 'small sigh' as he was handed six months' imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Edwards s miled broadly as he left the courtroom accompanied by a member of his legal team - carrying the same small suitcase he had brought with him, possibly in anticipation of being jailed.
He later walked onto the street with his legal team before being driven away in a black Mercedes. A mugshot released of the presenter showed him staring at the camera - dead eyed and gaunt - with silver stubble across his face.
Westminster Magistrates' Court heard Edwards told Williams 'go on' when asked if he wanted 'naughty pics and vids' of somebody described as 'yng (sic)'.
The court also heard Edwards paid Williams hundreds of pounds after he sent him pornographic images, but his defence barrister Philip Evans KC said the broadcaster did not make payments to Williams in order to receive indecent images of children .
The prosecution said Williams asked Edwards for a ' Christmas gift after all the hot videos'. Prosecutor Ian Hope said: 'Alex Williams says he wants some Air Force 1 trainers that cost around £100, and Mr Edwards offers to send him £200.'
Of the indecent images he received, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine.
Defence barrister Philip Evans KC said Edwards was 'truly sorry' and 'recognises the repugnant nature' of the images sent to him. The journalist claimed alcohol and the decline in his mental health played a part in the sick chats.
The BBC said following the sentencing: 'We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.'