LONDON: One of Britain’s leading news anchors, Huw Edwards, was named by his wife on Wednesday as being the BBC presenter facing allegations he paid a young person thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos, the broadcaster reported.

Edwards announced the death of Queen Elizabeth to the nation in September and has led coverage of the biggest events in Britain since the turn of the century, including elections, royal weddings and the 2012 Olympics.

The BBC has been rocked in recent days by a report in the Sun newspaper that one of its leading presenters had paid a young person 35,000 pounds ($45,000) for explicit photos over three years, beginning when the person was 17.

It suspended the presenter but did not name him. Several BBC stars had taken to social media to say they were not involved after speculation swirled online.

“Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years,” his wife, Vicky Flind said, according to the BBC.

“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”

Flind said she hoped the statement would bring an end to media speculation which had impacted Edwards’ BBC colleagues.

“Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published,” she said.

London’s Metropolitan Police said earlier on Wednesday it had concluded its assessment into the allegations and found there was no indication a criminal offence had been committed.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023