Plaque honouring Huw Edwards removed from Cardiff Castle

A plaque honouring Huw Edwards at Cardiff Castle has been removed after the disgraced presenter pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Cardiff council took away the wall-mounted plaque after Edwards admitted to having 41 indecent images of children, sent to him by another man on WhatsApp.

The messages included seven category A images, the most severe classification, two of which showed a child between seven and nine.

The council confirmed the plaque was removed on 31 July, along with an audio guide narrated by Edwards, which was removed from the app on 1 August.

A mural featuring Edwards, which he had been to visit in his home village of Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, was also removed last week. The artwork, created by Steve Jenkins, was painted over.

Jenkins said: “I feel deeply saddened to have to remove it as the whole village loved it when it was first done.

“I was given the topic of the village to base the mural on and we thought it would be nice if Huw was included. It was lovely, he brought his mum along to see it and that’s why this is such a bitter pill to swallow.”

Edwards spent 40 years at the BBC, where he was its highest-paid newsreader at the time of his resignation, with a salary of £435,000-£439,999 in the year 2022-23.

Several charities have also severed their allegiance with the broadcaster, including the National Churches Trust and the Journalists’ Charity, after his court appearance.

The National Churches Trust said: “In light of the news on Monday 29 July, the National Churches Trust has confirmed that Huw Edwards is no longer a vice-president for the charity. We are shocked and saddened by the recent developments.”

The BBC has removed an episode of Doctor Who from iPlayer that featured Edwards as himself in the series 2 episode Fear Her, broadcast in 2006 as part of David Tennant’s debut series.

The corporation has also begun to remove Edwards from some of its archive footage , the Observer revealed. “As you would expect, we are actively considering the availability of our archive,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“While we don’t routinely delete content from the BBC archive as it is a matter of historical record, we do consider the continued use and reuse of material on a case-by-case basis.”