Huw Edwards: Could presenter launch legal action over reporting of allegations?

Huw Edwards is yet to speak out about the allegations he paid for sexual images after his identity was revealed as the 'unnamed BBC presenter' by his wife on Wednesday evening.

The BBC star's silence has extended to his Twitter account, which has been absent of posts since 27 June.

But despite that, his Twitter account did appear to have 'liked' two tweets protesting the innocence of the then-unnamed BBC star.

On Wednesday, Edwards was named as the BBC presenter accused by the Sun of paying a young person, now aged 20, for sexual images.

The newspaper’s initial report, published on 7 July, suggested that this had started when the individual was 17 – a potentially serious criminal offence, leading the BBC to launch an investigation into its handling of a complaint that was initially raised by the parents of the person in May.

The police has since said no criminal act took place, while The Sun has subsequently claimed its initial report did not allege any criminality had taken place.

Watch: Two police forces not pursuing action against presenter Huw Edwards

Edwards' wife said the presenter, who has spoken before about his battles with depression, has been admitted to hospital with serious mental health issues following the fallout of the claims

The scant activity on Edwards' account recently includes likes of two tweets referring to the allegations.

Read more: Robert Peston pays tribute to Huw Edwards' wife as he addresses BBC scandal on ITV show

One post on 10 July liked by the account, which shared a BBC New article headlined 'BBC: Claims about presenter 'rubbish' – young person's lawyer', read: "⁦@TheSun has made the most serious allegations about a BBC presenter. Now needs to provide evidence or potentially face the mother of all libel actions".

A second tweet, which shared the same article, said: "The lawyer for the young person in the Sun story about the BBC presenter says they sent a denial to the paper on Friday evening saying there was 'no truth to it' but the paper still went ahead with the story".

Will there be legal action?

The days of furore leading up to Edwards' identification – which saw speculation that other high-profile BBC presenters may have been those at the centre of the scandal – has led some to suggest that there is a possibility of legal action being launched, either by Edwards or by other presenters.

Edwards has not commented on any of the scandal, though his wife said when he is well enough he "intends to respond to the stories that have been published".

Asked if it is possible that Edwards could launch legal action around the accusations and the way the scandal has been reported, media law expert and journalist David Banks told Yahoo News UK: "I think it's probably quite early to make that call, given the condition he is in. I think it's probably the last thing on his mind at this moment."

Banks said there are two main legal issues "in play" since the allegations surfaced.

"One is libel – things said that damage the reputation, the allegations that have been flying around.

"But the difficulty with a libel action is that one of the things the claimant has to show is that they have been identified in what's been published and nothing that The Sun published actually identified the individual."

Watch: Angela Rayner calls for 'privacy' in Huw Edwards scandal

He said while the phrase 'BBC presenter' had been used, that covered a large group of people so would not necessarily make it easy to take legal action.

"The other issue is privacy," he added. "But again, in what has been published certainly by the mainstream media, no-one has been identified until obviously Huw's wife, Vicky Flind, actually revealed his identity.

"So as far as legal action against mainstream media is concerned, it looks fairly complicated to bring any action because of those issues regarding identity."

Banks said the results of the BBC investigation could have a bearing on any potential legal action or action going forward.

He also pointed out that there could be a potential for legal action against social media users who had named names in the days surrounding the allegations.

But he added it was unlikely.

"Whether people would take libel action against ordinary individuals is questionable, whether it's worth doing," he said. "Because getting damages or costs from ordinary people is pretty difficult.

"Libel actions are usually taken against major publishers or broadcasters because they are worth suing. You might see one or two threats going around but I doubt you will see action at this point.

"At this point I don't really see an avenue for legal action. I might be wrong – there might be different advice being given by the legal representatives of those involved."