Huw Edwards blames his fragile ego, alpha-male father, his repressed sexual interest in men and depression for engaging with a paedophile who sent him indecent images of children as young as seven.

The 63-year-old, who is staying in residential care due to his mental health, even claimed he had low self-esteem because he didn’t go to Oxford University so felt like an ‘outsider’ at the BBC.

Edwards was given a suspended sentence and counselling yesterday despite being sent 41 indecent images of children by a convicted paedophile. 

Yet the disgraced BBC newsreader called some of them ‘amazing’ and begged for ‘more’ but later insisted he has no sexual interest in children. 

Detailed reports by psychiatrists published yesterday gave an insight into how the veteran anchorman’s life spiralled out of control and he ended up chatting with a child sex offender over WhatsApp as his marriage to Vicky Flind faltered.

And after reading these opinions and the current under-fire child porn sentencing guidelines, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring allowed Edwards to leave Westminster Magistrates’ Court a free man yesterday. 

Huw’s ‘monstrous’ father and an inferiority complex at the BBC because he wasn’t an Oxbridge graduate

Edwards as a young child with his father, Hywel, who he claims marked his life negatively and was a hard man to impress

Edwards claims that his relationship with his famous father marked his life – and led to disgrace decades later.

One report highlighted how Edwards had been psychologically damaged by his upbringing with a ‘monstrous’ father, and how he felt like an ‘outsider in the BBC’ after failing to get into Oxford or Cambridge university and ended up ‘at Cardiff instead’.

Edwards claimed that going to Cardiff rather than Oxford made him feel an outsider at the BBC

Hywel Teifi Edwards, his Welsh nationalist father who died of cancer in 2010, made his life “particularly challenging and probably damaging psychologically”, the court heard.

An insider told MailOnline that Hywel Teifi Edwards was an ‘alpha-male’.

Dr Michael Isaac, a consultant psychiatrist & neuropsychiatrist, wrote ahead of yesterday’s sentencing: ‘Mr Edwards is a complex individual, with a psychologically challenging upbringing, in which his relationship with his father was particularly challenging and probably damaging psychologically.

‘The restrictive, puritanical, but often hypocritical, background of growing up in the particular cultural milieu of South Wales, with a father who was highly regarded and lauded outside the family, but was perceived as behaving monstrously within the family, created both an enduring cognitive dissonance and low self-esteem, compounded by a sense of being inferior (by not getting into Oxford and going to Cardiff instead) and being therefore something of an outsider at the BBC.’

His late father Hywel Teifi Edwards was a Plaid Cymru and Welsh language activist and an author and academic, who was research professor of Welsh-language Literature at University College of Swansea.

Dr Isaac continued: ‘I consider that all of this, including and, as well as the persistent depressive disorder, with intermittent bouts of clinical depression…significantly and adversely affected Mr Edwards’ decision making in relation to looking after himself and, crucially in this context, his interaction with co-workers and strangers via social media. His reported conduct reflects this.

‘I consider that from approximately 2018… when Mr Edwards took two months of sick leave following an anonymous denunciation, Mr Edwards on balance exhibited a mental impairment that had a significant (non-trivial) effect on his ability to carry out day-to-day activities, including his decision-making capacity and judgment.’

Marriage problems and a sexual interest in men

Huw Edwards and wife Vicky became distant in recent years and he re-engaged his sexual interest  in men, which had been repressed since the early 1990s. The couple have five children

The father-of-five’s relationship with TV producer wife Vicky Flind began to deteriorate and he started to ‘re-engage with his sexual interest in men which had been managed since 1994’.

The reports highlighted how Edwards, 63, became ‘fixated’ with online sexual images while ‘experiencing poor mental health, increased use of alcohol and a deterioration within his intimate relationship.’

He began ‘a social media presence which allowed him to interact with people that otherwise he would never have engaged with’. 

His pre-sentence report said: ‘At the time of the offences and over a period of 2 to 3 years, Mr Edwards described a deterioration in the relationship. 

‘His wife was experiencing high levels of stress as her mother was nearing end of life and the couple became increasingly distant from one another. Mr Edwards recognises that he was also detached and “not present” at a time when she needed his support. Despite having previously been very close, he recalls this period as the most difficult part of their marriage and their levels of  intimacy had significantly decreased’.

Edwards began leading ‘an unhealthy lifestyle featuring excessive use and misuse of prescribed medication’. 

He was apparently disappointed that his family did not do more to help him.   

‘He has expressed some disappointment that although family members had commented on these changes, there had not been a greater effort by those around him to challenge him openly about this’, the report said.

Edwards used social media chats with strangers to boost his fragile self-esteem

In another report, forensic psychosexual therapist Dr Virginia Appleyard described how Edwards was ‘particularly destabilised through the process of commencing a social media presence which allowed him to interact with people that otherwise he would never have engaged with’.

Dr Appleyard wrote: ‘His social media engagement presented as an easy way to manage his low mood and provided him with a number of men and women who were motivated to be sexual with him which not only boosted his fragile self-esteem but allowed him to re-engage with his sexual interest in men which had been managed since 1994.

‘The feelings of being desirable and unseen alongside Mr. Edwards’ unresolved sexual orientation created a perfect storm where he engaged in sexual infidelities and became vulnerable to people blackmailing him.’

The pre-sentence report added: ‘Mr Edwards has been keen to stress that he does not consider his bisexuality as permission for infidelity and he expresses high levels of remorse for the betrayal of his partner and children and is aware that he has eroded the trust placed in him.’ 

Mental health struggles and feeling his family’s lives ‘may be improved if he was not alive’

Edwards is said to have had suicidal thoughts – but is also said to have been planning for the future 

Reports highlighted how Edwards, 63, became ‘fixated’ with online sexual images while ‘experiencing poor mental health, increased use of alcohol and a deterioration within his intimate relationship.’

They also described how he began leading ‘an unhealthy lifestyle featuring excessive use and misuse of prescribed medication’.

He is currently staying in an expensive private mental health institiution.

One report said of his mental health: ‘There is a tangible risk that Mr Edwards may attempt suicide as he recognises that his life trajectory, both personal and professional, may have been irretrievably damaged by events and he remains concerned about how events have and will impact on his family. 

‘Mr Edwards considers that his family’s situation may be improved if he was not alive’.

The medical reports also state how Edwards had been assessed as a suicide risk but had also been making plans for the future.

The report revealed how Edwards ‘would welcome further assistance in developing his future plans, particularly in the area of vocational or volunteering endeavours which he is mindful will need to be managed alongside restrictions placed upon him.’

Edwards was diagnosed with the vascular disease arteriosclerosis last December, the court heard.