NIGHT after night he sternly delivered the most important news to the nation, with his authoritative style winning countless awards.

But away from his famous desk, as we have discovered, Huw Edwards was a manipulative paedophile who used the same pattern of behaviour time and time again to feed his relentless desires.

Some 437 days since the Sun’s bombshell front page – Edwards today appeared in court to learn his fate, his once glittering career in ruins.

Our exclusive that he paid a youngster thousands of pounds for sexual pictures made headlines around the globe and set into motion a series of events which plunged the BBC into crisis.

And Edwards – at the time the BBC’s highest earning newsreader – never again appeared on our screens.

Today, a court heard Edwards paid a younger convicted paedophile £1,500 for child sex images and videos of children which he described as “amazing”.

The case centred on messages between sex offender Alex Williams, who was a teen when they struck up a relationship, and 63-year-old Edwards.

We must be clear, the facts of that case are unrelated to our original story.

But there are some alarming similarities in his exchanges with both young people – and a pattern of deeply disturbing behaviour.

He made contact with both on social media, messaged them on WhatsApp, harassed them for pictures, and then gave them money.

There were kisses involved and Christmas presents given.

Chillingly, he even bought both of them, who are decades younger, a pair of trainers.

And all in exchange for sexual pictures.

Cash was used as leverage to the men, one homeless, the other a student, who could only dream of earning his top salary.

What The Sun uncovered was a pattern of behaviour and had we not done so Edwards’ could well have remained undetected.

The staple of News at Ten had guided the nation through key events, even breaking news of the queen‘s death.

But he found himself thrust into the headlines – at first anonymously – when we told how a top BBC star had been accused of paying a vulnerable young person for sexual pictures.

We revealed the story after the family of the youngster contacted us in desperation when their attempts to raise the alarm with the BBC were shamelessly ignored.

It was to prove a fatal mistake for the Corporation.

As the world now knows, the presenter at the heart of our story was Edwards – a fact soon confirmed by the host’s then-wife Vicky Flind, herself a powerful name in television.

An independent inquiry by Deloitte would later result in the BBC being forced into a grovelling apology – after it was found it did mishandle the family’s complaint.

But far worse was to come for Edwards.

As powerful friends tried to save his reputation, the police were closing in.

As a court heard in August, police went on to discover Edwards had been messaging Williams and receiving child abuse pictures from him.

Edwards, who had told the nation of so many of its gravest crimes, had failed to raise the alarm.

He would go on to be arrested and charged – and the BBC severed all ties.

Efforts are underway to recover cash paid to Edwards after his arrest.

The public, who so often turned to Edwards and his BBC bulletins to be guided through bad news, is appalled.

But today’s sentence will not be the end of the story for the BBC.

The scandal has reached the highest levels – with director general Tim Davie coming under huge pressure and the BBC accused – yet again – of a lack of transparency over an abuser in its ranks.

It remains to be seen whether the BBC’s leader can steer the corporation through what has been one of its most damaging crises – and cling on to his own highly-paid job.

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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)