BBC Director General Tim Davie defended the decision not to sack Huw Edwards in November, despite knowing the materials in question were among the most serious indecent images of children.

In an interview with the BBC today, Davie said the corporation had taken ‘difficult decisions in a fair and judicious manner’.

Asked about how much the BBC was told in November, he said: ‘We knew it was serious, we knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.’

BBC bosses say they weren’t aware of the ages of the children in the images.

Asked about whether Edwards would still receive his pension, Davie said it was ‘very difficult to claw back, nigh on impossible.

He added: ‘These are unfortunately the specifics of how it works.

‘When it comes to pay, again, legally challenging, but we’ll look at all options.’

The veteran broadcaster admitted having 41 child sex abuse images on WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.

The 62-year-old committed the three offences between December 2020 and April 2021.

The child abuse materials that were sent to Edwards by 25-year-old convicted paedophile Alex Williams included seven category A, the worst, 12 category B, and 22 category C.

Of the category A images, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was age between seven and nine, the court was told.

Davie added that the BBC was not ‘sitting on anything that I think we need to share with the police, or is of a serious nature that would make me feel that we hadn’t followed up properly’.

He continued: ‘I can categorically say that when it comes to the offences we’ve seen, which are truly horrendous, any evidence that is out there is not in the hands of the BBC.

‘If I saw evidence of that, that is not a complicated decision.’

Yesterday the BBC said it was ‘shocked’ to hear of the details that emerged in court, and Davies reiterated: ‘We were very shocked. No-one knew about the specifics of what we heard over the last few days, which have been deeply disturbing.’

He also said the BBC did not make the charges public as the police asked them not to.

‘When it comes to the decision we made in November, we were obviously faced with a difficult decision, and we considered it very carefully,’ he said.

‘The police came to us and gave us information that they had arrested Edwards. But they wanted to be assured of total confidence, and the reason they rung us at that point, it’s a technical process to ensure employees are protected and there’s no risk.’

He added: ‘Another factor at this point was very significant duty of care considerations. I think it was right for us to say we’d let the police do their business, and then when charges happen, we will act.’

During his career, Edwards fronted BBC’s News At Ten for 20 years and anchored coverage of major national events including announcing Queen Elizabeth II’s death on the BBC and presenting coverage of her funeral.

He was previously the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of £475,000 to £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the corporation’s latest annual report.

He resigned from the BBC this year – five months after his arrest – following allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit pictures.

He remained absent from screens since the story first broke in July 2023 until his departure was announced.