The Sun has said it has a dossier “containing serious and wide-ranigng allegations” it has received about Huw Edwards – “including some from BBC personnel”.
However the newspaper said it has “no plans” to publish further allegations about the BBC star.
It first reported claims against an unnamed presenter, saying he had paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images.
Huw Edwards latest: BBC presenter ‘suffering serious mental health issues’
Edwards was named by his wife as the BBC presenter at the centre of the scandal on Wednesday evening – and revealed he was in hospital with “serious mental issues”.
A former editor of The Sun said the paper had “inflicted terror” on Edwards and is now facing a “crisis”.
A spokesperson for newspaper said it will cooperate with the BBC’s internal investigation process.
“The allegations published by The Sun were always very serious. Further serious allegations have emerged in the past few days,” the spokesperson said.
“We will provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel.”
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The Sun claims it did not allege criminality
Two police forces have said they are not pursuing action against Edwards after finding no evidence of criminal offences.
The Sun spokesperson said the newspaper had “at no point” in its original story alleged criminality.
The paper “also took the decision neither to name Mr Edwards nor the young person involved in the allegations”, they added.
“Suggestions about possible criminality were first made at a later date by other media outlets, including the BBC,” the spokesperson said.
“From the outset, we have reported a story about two very concerned and frustrated parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and payments from him that fuelled the drug habit of a young person.
“We reported that the parents had already been to the police who said that they couldn’t help. The parents then made a complaint to the BBC which was not acted upon.
“It is now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
Read more:
Who is Huw Edwards? Newsreader named at centre of scandal
Huw Edwards: Wife’s statement in full
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Debate over coverage
The crisis surrounding Edwards has sparked a debate about The Sun’s allegations and the BBC response, with some calling the coverage an invasion of privacy.
David Yelland, who was editor of The Sun from 1998 to 2003, tweeted: “I wish [Huw Edwards] well. The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence.
“This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected. Social media also needs speedy reform.”
Jon Sopel, former North America editor of BBC News, called the scandal “an awful and shocking episode” and said the presenter’s “complicated private life” does not “feel very private now”.
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Former Downing Street head of communications Alastair Campbell said the presenter “is the perfect target for those who would undermine and indeed would like to destroy the BBC”.
“The police having said no action to be taken, whatever he did or did not do is a matter for him and his family, and for the BBC,” he tweeted.
“The obsession with this story has been a further sign of a media that has frankly become weird.”
