Disgraced former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has provoked anger with an apparent attempt to return to journalism, less than two years after his conviction.
Edwards, who lives in Llangennech, near Llanelli, pleaded guilty in 2024 to making indecent images of children.
The 64-year-old, once the BBC’s highest-paid news presenter, was given a suspended prison sentence after admitting accessing dozens of illegal images, including some of the most serious category.
He has now begun publishing a personal blog on the Substack platform, writing not only about his own case but also on politics and current affairs — the territory he once covered for the BBC.
The move has been widely interpreted as a bid to rebuild his public profile and re-establish himself as a commentator.
In one entry addressing his crimes directly, Edwards restates the remorse he expressed in court and says he takes full responsibility for what he calls his “reprehensible” actions.
But much of that writing seeks to link his offending to long-running mental illness, drawing a distinction between what he frames as an explanation and an excuse.
He says he intends to keep writing on the subject, arguing he is in a position to speak about serious mental illness.
Alongside this, he has turned to political matters, publishing commentary on Westminster affairs and signalling an intent to write regularly on public life once again.
The decision to seek a public platform so soon after his conviction has drawn sharp criticism.
Commentators have described the venture as self-serving, with some arguing that a man who admitted offences against children should not be courting an audience at all.
Critics have stressed that the victims of such crimes are real children, and have questioned the focus on his own circumstances and ambitions.
Edwards had signalled his intentions before, having issued a defiant statement earlier this year promising to challenge what he called “fabricated” claims about him.
That followed an earlier intervention in which he broke his silence to attack a Channel 5 drama about his downfall, insisting he wanted to tell his side of the story.
Edwards joined the BBC in 1984 and became one of its most recognisable figures, fronting coverage of major national events before his career collapsed.
He resigned from the corporation in April 2024 on medical advice, but it later emerged he had continued to be paid for months after his arrest the previous November.
The BBC has faced repeated questions over what it knew, and when, about the allegations against him.
His attempt to return to public writing is likely to renew the discomfort his case continues to cause the broadcaster and the wider public.
