The former BBC presenter Huw Edwards has been given a six month suspended prison sentence, completing an extraordinary fall from grace after admitting accessing indecent photographs of children as young as seven.

Edwards, 63, who spent four decades at the BBC, looked pale and tired in the dock in Westminster magistrates court as the sentence was handed down by chief magistrate Paul Goldspring.

Edwards, who nodded at various points during the sentencing remarks, was told that he had been “perhaps the most recognised newsreader/journalist in the UK” but that his “long-earned reputation is in tatters”.

He is also obliged to attend a programme designed to stop him offending again after pleading guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children after he was sent 41 illegal images by Alex Williams, a convicted paedophile.

As he handed down the sentence, the chief magistrate said he accepted evidence that Edwards had no recollection of viewing the indecent images due to his mental health issues at the time of the offences. The court heard that Edwards had struggled with his sexuality since 1994 and that there was currently a “tangible risk” of suicide.

Edwards had been involved in an online chat with Williams, then 19, on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021 during which he sent the younger man hundreds of pounds “apparently off the back of [him] sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards”.

Edwards received 377 sexual images from Williams including 41 indecent images of children, of which seven were category A (the worst), 12 were category B and 22, category C.

In his opening statement at the hearing, prosecutor Ian Hope said: “It is clear from the face of the WhatsApp chat recovered that a deal of the chat between Alex Williams and Mr Edwards was sexual in nature.

“It is also clear that Mr Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money – low hundreds of pounds on an occasional basis – to Alex Williams which Mr Williams directly asked for on several occasions, as gifts or presents, apparently off the back of sending pornographic images to Mr Edwards, about which images they chatted.

“Alex Williams has stated that the money was more generally to support him at university and amounted to around £1,000 to £1,500.”

Hope said Edwards did not respond after Williams sent him a sexual video of children aged around seven to nine and 11 to 13 and that there was evidence that he had asked for illegal images not to be sent.

The prosecutor said: “On 10 February 2021, a category A video was sent which is notable because the age of one of the children involved was significantly younger than in the rest of the images sent – it showed several acts of penetration between two children aged around seven to nine and 11 to 13 respectively.

“There was no direct response from Mr Edwards to this video, beyond it being marked as ‘read’. A week later … a number of attachments were sent, which included two category B videos and four category C still images comprising indecent images of children.

“On 19 February 2021, Alex Williams asked: ‘Is the stuff I’m sending too young for you?’ The next response from Mr Edwards is dated 22 February 2021 saying: ‘Don’t send underage.’”

The court heard, however, that Edwards told Williams “go on” when asked if he wanted “naughty pics and vids” of somebody described as “yng (sic)“.

He wrote: “yes xxx” when he was asked by Williams if he wanted sexual images of a person whose “age could be discerned as being between 14 and 16”.

Williams, who was charged in relation to his WhatsApp chat with Edwards and was convicted of seven offences after an investigation by South Wales police, received a 12-month suspended sentence on 15 March.

Edwards sentence means he will avoid jail unless he commits further offences or breaches the conditions set by the judge.

The former presenter, who announced the death of the Queen in 2022, arrived an hour before the hearing in central London pulling a suitcase behind him and wearing a blue cardigan.

The court heard that the phone used by Edwards to communicate with Williams had never been recovered but that the WhatsApp messages indicated that a number of social media platforms were used for the sharing of images. The two men met in person only once.

Edwards suffered from depression and other mental health conditions, the court heard, and had been diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, a form of heart disease, in December 2023.

Edwards’ defence barrister, Philip Evans KC, said the evidence that his client had expressly asked Williams not to send illegal images was a significant mitigation and that there was nothing to suggest that Edwards had used his position at the BBC to gain indecent images.

He said Edwards, who has separated from his wife with whom he has five adult children, wished “to apologise to the court” and those he had hurt.

Evans said: “He wishes the court through me to know how profoundly sorry he is. He recognises the repugnant nature of such indecent images and the hurt that he has done those who appear in such images.

“For his part on that he apologises sincerely and he makes it clear he has the utmost regret. He recognises that he has betrayed the priceless trust of so many people.

“He recognises he has hurt and damaged his family and his loved ones around him. For all those things he is truly sorry and he is truly sorry he has committed these offences.”