The parents of the teenager at the centre of the Huw Edwards scandal have said their family has been ‘ripped apart’ after the BBC took nine months to apologise to them.
The Corporation admitted today that there had been ‘shortcomings’ in the way it dealt with the case and that the complaint was ‘not escalated quickly enough’ to top bosses.
News at Ten host, Edwards, 62, was suspended by the BBC in July over allegations that he had paid a 17-year-old teenager £35,000 for sexual images over three years.
It took seven weeks for the initial inappropriate behaviour claims to be escalated to the BBC director-general and for them to be put to Edwards himself.
After days of speculation over a ‘top BBC star’ being taken off air in July, Edwards’ identity was finally confirmed by his wife, Vicky Flind, as she revealed he was ‘suffering from serious mental health issues’. He has not returned to work since.
Breaking her silence on the BBC’s apology, the teenager’s mother told The Sun: ‘We’ve suffered immense pain and it has taken nearly a year which has left me broken.
‘If the BBC had handled the complaint properly, we would have not had to go through this hell. We have been ripped apart as a family.’
The mother slammed the BBC for failing to take the complaint seriously and wants to know whether the allegations made have been ‘properly investigated’.
She added: ‘It’s there in black and white – the BBC didn’t even log the complaint or follow it up. This is a devastating admission.’
The teenager’s stepdad, who made the original complaint, said: ‘It’s only right they admitted their procedures were wrong. Their apology also proves that I was right to be frustrated.’
It comes after a report, commissioned in the wake of the scandal, found a need for ‘greater consistency’ in how complaints at the corporation are processed.
The family of the young person originally complained about Edwards to the BBC in May 2023 and the BBC said it tried to contact them twice before The Sun published an exclusive story detailing the allegations he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.
However, BBC senior leadership was only informed of the issue on July 6, the review said.
The BBC has since apologised to the family, BBC Group chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva said.
She said: ‘Although our existing processes and systems are, on the whole, working effectively, this review shows that we need to join them up better to ensure no matter how a non-editorial complaint comes into the BBC it is escalated swiftly, when needed, and dealt with by the right people.
‘Where the review identifies process improvements we accept those in full, and we are delivering on an action plan with a number of enhancements already in place.
‘The report identifies specific process shortcomings in the presenter case. The initial complaint in this case was not escalated quickly enough to senior management and we have apologised to the complainant for this.’
After the story emerged last year, BBC director-general Tim Davie ordered a review to ‘assess how some complaints are red-flagged up the organisation’.
He also ordered an additional ‘factfinding investigation’.
The review, led by Ms Tavaziva and carried out by Deloitte, highlights failures in the complaints process, saying that the initial complaint about Edwards was not logged on the relevant case management system so could not be seen by senior figures.
There was also no documented process for contact and follow-ups with the complainant, so when attempts to make contact were unsuccessful, the course of action was not clear.
The report says: ‘The case was not logged on the incumbent case management system (Perspective) contemporaneously, meaning that there was no opportunity for wider visibility of the case within the BBC; and there was no documented process for contact with the complainant and/or follow-up, such that when initial attempts to contact the complainant were unsuccessful, the steps to be taken were not sufficiently clear and the process followed was not documented.’
The report also said that some employees interviewed said they would feel nervous about raising a complaint with the BBC, particularly if it was about a more senior member of staff or a high profile figure.
It said: ‘These employees said they have lower levels of confidence in how robustly the complaint will be handled if it is a grievance relating to another member of staff or talent, particularly where there is an actual or perceived power discrepancy between the complainant and the subject of the complaint.’
The report added there is a need for ‘greater consistency across teams in how non-editorial complaints are dealt with, regardless of the route by which they are received and then reviewed’.
It suggested ‘better use of technology to manage non-editorial complaints and work to ensure there is a complete picture of all cases across teams dealing with them; as well as work to ensure sufficient resources across specialist teams dealing with non-editorial complaints, to manage the workload in a timely manner without impacting on staff welfare.’
In a letter to BBC News, the young person at the centre of the Edwards controversy said via lawyers nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened with the-then unnamed presenter.
Edwards has been absent from screens since the story first broke and his wife previously said he was receiving in-patient hospital care and was suffering ‘serious mental health issues’.
In December, Scotland Yard faced a secrecy row after refusing to say whether its officers are still investigating Edwards.
The teenager’s mother and stepfather complained to police in April, but three months later detectives declared that no crime had been committed.
When the Metropolitan Police was asked whether detectives were still assessing any allegations, the force declined to answer.
Under College of Policing guidelines, forces routinely respond to media inquiries when asked if there is an update to an existing policing matter.
The national guidance states: ‘As an investigation or other policing activity continues, officers and communications staff should regularly review the information that has been released and consider if it is appropriate to release more information.’
But when asked whether officers were still conducting any inquiries into Mr Edwards, a Scotland Yard spokesman refused to answer, saying: ‘We are not able to answer your query on the information you have provided to us.’
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
