IT is hard to think of a man more arrogant, condescending or deluded than Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Then up reared the disgraced head of Huw Edwards.
The newsreader, who was given a suspended prison sentence for possessing indecent images of children in September 2024, has crawled out of the rock from whence he’s been hiding.
Ahead of a new two-part Channel 5 drama, which airs tonight, the 64-year-old has issued an astonishing statement.
Straight from the narcissist’s playbook, it simultaneously gaslights and attacks, while also offering a scintilla of remorse — just enough to make you feel slightly mad.
“Channel 5’s ‘factual drama’ is hardly likely to convey the reality of what happened,” Huw mewled.
“They also refused to disclose whether any of those making allegations had been paid for their contributions.”
Hmm, questioning whether an organisation paid contributors for their time seems a bit rich coming from a man who paid notorious paedophile, Alex Williams, for naked images of children.
And a man who reportedly paid a vulnerable, drug-addicted teen £35,000 in return for X-rated images. Huw repeatedly, systematically abused his power at the BBC, displaying a contemptuous arrogance in the process.
It was, of course, tireless work from The Sun that first alerted the nation — and Edwards’ “hear no evil, see no evil” BBC bosses — to the newsreader’s dark proclivities.
Needless to say, Edwards disputes our reporting despite sworn affidavits, court documents and first-hand primary source material provided by this newspaper, giving much of the background to the Martin Clunes dramatisation.
It takes a brave PR to take on a registered sex offender.
Yet Edwards has managed to procure the services of a chap who has represented White Dee from Benefits Street.
“I am making an effort to produce my own account of these terrible events,” revealed Edwards. “This is a slow process given the fragile state of my health. Mental illness is misunderstood by many but can never be an excuse for criminality.
“It can, however, at least help explain why people sometimes behave in shocking and reprehensible ways, and why things fell apart for me in the way they did.
“What is less well known is the severity of that condition, which was managed successfully until the downward spiral which led to an appalling outcome.”
Imagine! “So sorry I mugged, raped and killed 27 pensioners, M’Lord; I was absolutely fine but then my mental health spiralled, and off I went.”
We simply cannot use mental health as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Depression doesn’t mean carte blanche for evil.
Celebrities, public figures, those who have grievously wronged and been found out, cannot pluck a condition out the bag and expect forgiveness.
Society would collapse if justice systems operated on this basis.
Edwards, who broke news of Queen Elizabeth’s death to the nation, did, at least, acknowledge his actions.
“Every image represents an innocent victim”, he added. “I offer my sincere and profound apologies for what I did.”
Only the victims and their families can say what solace this might provide.
Conditions like depression, in their rawest forms, are truly crippling and lifeaffecting.
Yet it is hard, given what we now know, to feel sympathy for Mr Edwards.
I hope Edwards — and his loyal, ageing mother with whom I do have the utmost sympathy — is getting the support he needs.
And I hope, behind the scenes, Edwards is doing his utmost to make up for what he did.
A religious man, he should be allowed to repent, to seek forgiveness.
Clearly mentally-ill Edwards is sick. But this is no defence for depravity.
DORA’S ON THE MEND
IT was William Wordsworth who said: “The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”
I have been reminded of this constantly over the past two weeks, having written about my beloved miniature dachshund Dora’s neardeath experience after a (one-way) dog fight.
So, so many of you wrote in, some even sent Get Well Soon cards, and many shared your own horror experiences.
Your messages may have only taken a few minutes to write, but they will last a lifetime in my head (and Dora’s if she’d ever bothered to learn to read). You asked for updates on Dora, so here we go.
On Friday the little scrap got the all-clear from the vet, and is sitting at my feet as I type, demanding her pig toy be thrown.
We both feel incredibly lucky – and grateful for your support.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. X
HOW is it that we appear to be regressing as a society?
The heinous arson attack on a Jewish community charity’s ambulances in London’s Golders Green is beyond comprehension.
Antisemitism has no place in this country in this day and age. (Or, indeed, any age.)
HEEL YEAH
ASKING for a friend, but where does one go to flog pictures of their feet?
In the latest episode of documentary Getting Filthy Rich, Olivia Attwood met a “foot content creator”, who sells crayon pictures she drew using only her trotters. She earns £150 for a two-minute sketch.
Lily Allen, meanwhile, is on OnlyFans, flogging foot pics to weirdos, coining in around £8,000 a MONTH in the process.
Now, I have something of a club right foot. Surely a USP? If I’m not here next week, you know what I’ll be up to…
AGELESS CHUANDO STILL SEXY AT SIXTY
SCIENTISTS, kidnap this man and study him forensically before cloning his genetics and popping them in a Boots serum.
Chuando Tan is a Singaporean photographer who has just turned… 60.
The grandad, who has a six-pack and the apparent skin laxity of a foetus, has gone viral after posting about his landmark birthday, prompting over 70,000 replies joking that he could be a vampire, etc.
The one-time model swears by walking, the gym and good skincare (conveniently enough he’s just been snapped up by Estee Lauder). And, like a vampire, appears to avoid direct sunlight.
Obsessed.
KEIR’S PERIOD DRAMA
IF men had periods, one thing is for sure – sanitary products would be free. As it is, new research shows women spend an average of £20,000 in a lifetime on tampons and towels.
A life tax, basically. “Oh, but we have to shave,” I hear the squeamish men at the back shouting.
Yes, so do we; legs and armpits are a greater cumulative surface area, too. Plus pink razors tend to be more expensive than blue.
Presenter Ashley James is fronting a campaign calling for free period products, with 36 per cent of women surveyed revealing they are struggling to afford them in the ongoing costof-living nightmare.
A campaign I’m fully on board with, but one unlikely to be implemented any time soon by our male PM.
RAVE reviews for the latest series of Amazon Prime’s ingenious and unlikely show, Last One Laughing.
It is a sort of hybrid Celebrity Big Brother-cum-local comedy night.
For anyone needing a bit of cheering up, I suggest you Google “Diane Morgan fart sketch.”
Just the tonic.
WAGS PART II
IT just me or is Morgan McSweeney giving Wagatha Christie?
In an unfortunate turn of events, the former Labour fixer says his mobile phone was stolen last year – the very same phone containing his messages to the disgraced Peter Mandelson.
What an unhappy coincidence!
While the ex-chief of staff declined to give details of just how his phone was “lost”, it is reminiscent of Vardy’s agent and friend who claimed hers plummeted to the bottom of the North Sea ahead of her infamous defamation case against Coleen Rooney.
A dastardly dash to British justice.
