A journalist has shared the “strange and flirty” messages he once received from former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards.

Edwards, who pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, was one of the BBC’s highest-profile and highest-paid presenters.

This week Westminster Magistrates Court heard that he was involved in an online chat.

With convicted paedophile Alex Williams on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021, who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.

The bulk of these, 36, were sent during a two-month period.

Edwards faces charges of seven Category A, the worst category, 12 Category B, and 22 Category C indecent images of children.

The Express’ assistant politics editor Sam Stevenson has now shared his experience of a message exchange with Edwards.

Sam has shared that when he first started his journalism career four years ago, he was keen to make contacts and keep up-to-date with the rolling news cycle. His first port of call was to follow as many “leading industry figures” as he could on Twitter, now X. He said he wanted to follow those he “respected” and “hoped to one day emulate”.

Sam has claimed that within minutes of following Edwards, he was followed back “much to his delight”. He stated that he “couldn’t have been more thrilled” to have “perhaps the most famous news anchor in Britain” acknowledge him. Edwards is said to have sent Sam a message just “seconds later”.

It read: “Latecomers are welcome, Sam” followed by a praying hands and a yellow smirking face emoji. Sam recalled being on holiday at the time and excitedly sharing the news that Edwards had sent him a direct message to his family. He admitted to wondering why “a high-profile celebrity 32 years my senior, with almost 200,000 followers versus my measly 1,000, want to speak to me”.

Sam replied: “Haha, thanks for the follow, Huw! Big fan of your work” alongside a thumbs up emoji. Edwards is said to have reacted to Sam’s message with a thumbs up emoji and added: “Thanks, Sam. Keep in touch. H.”

Writing in the Express, Sam said: “At that moment, I was not sure what to make of it. My immediate thought was what an excellent new contact I had just made. But, knowing what we do now, perhaps the reality was something more sinister. On reflection later that day, it was clear from his playful and casual manner, the coquettish nature of his initial message, the liberal emoji use, the over-familiarity coming seemingly at random, and the plea to “keep in touch”, that something was off.”

Sam admitted to feeling “somewhat uneasy” that the “playful tone” had “came from somebody who was so well-respected”. He said: “It did not feel right. Then, the penny dropped. Huw Edwards, the Huw Edwards, was privately flirting with me. Looking back, it makes my blood run cold.” The journalist ended by writing: “For my part, I am relieved I managed to avoid him. Others were not so lucky.

“Indeed, the “sickened” mother who first blew the whistle on the presenter’s behaviour in a newspaper story last year has since said: “I knew he was an abuser — but now I know he is truly a monster.” Her concerns for the welfare of her vulnerable teenage son have now been utterly vindicated. But the victims of predatory Edwards will still be seeking closure. For them, justice must be served.”