Disgraced broadcaster Huw Edwards has claimed he is ‘uniquely qualified’ to end ‘the silence around serious mental illness’ in his latest Substack post – as he attempted to address his conviction for making indecent images of children.

The former BBC newsreader, 64, launched his page on the subscription-based platform on Wednesday, where he revealed he would ‘offer thoughts on matters of national and local interest’ and ‘address mental health’.

Once one of the BBC’s most trusted and highest-paid stars, Edwards pleaded guilty in July 2024 and was handed a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, and placed on the sex offenders register for seven years.

Now in his latest post, the third in as many days, Edwards has shared his thoughts on his ‘deep regret and remorse’ for the crimes he committed.

The former star said that he had pled guilty ‘at the earliest opportunity’, adding: ‘I am repelled by such images, and my sincere and profound apologies to every person affected do not diminish with time.’

Edwards also shared that he had dealt with ‘persistent mental illness’ over 25 years and his condition became uncontrolled.

‘The downward spiral that followed led to an appalling outcome, and the wreckage of that outcome is something I live with every day,’ he wrote.

The former broadcaster went on to write that mental illness can ‘never be an excuse for criminality’ – before adding that ‘there is a difference between an excuse and an explanation, and that difference matters.’

Disgraced broadcaster Huw Edwards has claimed he is ‘uniquely qualified’ to end ‘the silence around serious mental illness’ in his latest Substack post

Once one of the BBC’s most trusted and highest-paid stars, Edwards pleaded guilty in July 2024 to making indecent images of children

His intention, he said, was to help institutions that respond to mental illness with ‘punishment rather than understanding’.

Edwards posted a photograph of a sunny Aberystwyth seafront, in his native West Wales, alongside his latest musings.

Insiders are speculating that his Substack, which has so far attracted 540 subscribers, represents the first step for Edwards to launch a career comeback.

His first post, which appeared on Wednesday, was titled Welcome (with the word written in Welsh, Irish, French and English) and the subheading ‘A first step…’ as the disgraced journalist promised the world a ‘Relaunch’.

Edwards also promised to ‘offer thoughts on matters of national and local interest’.

‘In light of my recent experiences,’ the convicted paedophile continued, ‘I would also like to talk about the criminal justice system: the courts, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Probation Service. 

‘I am also ready to be unflinchingly honest about the reality of long-term mental illness, and the continued failure to recognise its devastating effects on affected individuals, their families and friends. If my posts help others facing similar challenges, so much the better.’ 

On Thursday, he shared his second post in which he discussed his feelings around the possibility of Andy Burnham being made Prime Minister, alongside an image from Llansteffan beach, near his West Wales home.

Huw was given his six-month suspended jail sentence following a year of headlines, which began when he was named as the presenter at the heart of a scandal over payments to a young person for sexually explicit images.

Police discovered he was giving the victim gifts and money, and that within their chat there were numerous sexually explicit images, including 41 indecent images of children as young as seven years old.

These included both still and moving images, and were made up of seven of the most serious Category A, 12 Category B and 22 Category C.

After his charges first emerged, his TV-producer wife of 30 years, Vicky Flind, left him. He moved back to sleepy West Wales to live an isolated existence with his elderly mother.

Huw’s return to the world of journalism comes just two months before the end of his suspended prison sentence – as his former PR man revealed this week that Edwards is still yearning for life in the spotlight.

Publicist Barry Tomes told Daily Mail: ‘Huw told me he didn’t want to go back to TV. He said that part of his life was categorically over. But I just think he now wants the limelight again. I think he misses that. It must be a craving for him.’

On whether he would be the one to help him make a return to public life, the celeb PR said: ‘I wouldn’t work with Huw again, absolutely not. I wouldn’t work with him for £100,000 a year, because he’s getting it all wrong.

‘I don’t think Substack is the platform for someone like Huw Edwards. He has to accept that nobody cares about his opinion on the new Prime Minister or the economy. Nobody cares. When you commit that type of crime, nobody cares about you anymore.’

Tomes continued: ‘I told him he shouldn’t do anything while he’s still serving his sentence, which will be until September. If he had been in prison, he wouldn’t have the chance to do this. So I don’t think he should be doing it even though he’s not.

‘I think he’s probably surrounded by some close friends who are saying: “You don’t deserve this, you should go back out there.” But people will just want to slate him. He’s opening himself up to ridicule.’

Despite his spectacular downfall, there has been talk of a comeback for Edwards after a Channel 5 show starring Martin Clunes dramatised his crimes, leading to reports he is planning his own documentary or podcast series.

Edwards launched his Substack on Wednesday, in the first public move he has made since he was taken off-air three years ago

Barry Tomes, Edwards’ former PR man, revealed the disgraced broadcaster is still yearning for life in the spotlight

Some industry insiders believe Edwards could well re-emerge, citing parallels between the broadcaster and disgraced TV star Michael Barrymore, who has reinvented himself in recent years as a star on TikTok. 

Barrymore, at one time one of the highest-paid stars on television, found his career crashing to a halt after the death of 31-year-old Stuart Lubbock at a party hosted at his Essex home in 2001.

One source told The Times: ‘Rehabilitation is a long road but as Barrymore shows, there’s a monetisable afterlife for all fallen idols in the digital world, or at the very least, alternative platforms to re-access the drug of attention.’

Substack may well prove to be the platform from which Edwards can reclaim some of that ‘attention’ – with the co-founders staunchly defensive of allowing people ‘of all tribes and persuasions’ to participate, regardless of any controversy that might surround them.

Co-founder Chris Best previously said of the platform:  ‘The people who subscribe to you — not executives, activists, or advertisers — decide what kind of speech to support.

‘We are committed to supporting the speech rights of creators and their audiences … we buy into the old idea that we can strongly disagree with what someone has to say and still defend their right to say it.’