THE YOUNG person at the centre of the original allegations against Huw Edwards has now come forward, stating that he feels “groomed” by the broadcaster.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, the young man, who claims he was paid by Edwards to send sexually explicit pictures of himself when he was a teenager, accused the former newsreader of exploiting his vulnerability. The Metropolitan Police, however, found no evidence of criminal behaviour in that matter last year.

This week, the ex-BBC presenter pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children in a separate case.

The story first broke in July last year when The Sun newspaper reported on an unnamed young person’s alleged contact with Edwards. It published a claim by his mother that Edwards—then not publicly named—had paid her child tens of thousands of pounds for explicit photos over three years, beginning when they were 17.

Initially, The Sun referred to the individual as a “young person” without specifying a gender. A few days later, the lawyer representing the young person disputed the mother’s account, saying, “the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish” and adding in a letter to the BBC that “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” had occurred.

In his new interview on Saturday, the young man described Edwards as “an A-class manipulator”. He revealed that he had first contacted Edwards, along with other celebrities, on social media when he became homeless. The 62-year-old sent him money before asking if there was anything he would do in return.

“Although it was a friendship at the beginning, it did change. He would say things like, ‘Are you going to do something for me then?’ I needed help, so I did,” he said. “I feel like he sort of fed on my vulnerability… as he knew I needed the money. I felt like I was being groomed.”

The young man claims he sent explicit messages and videos to Edwards, who allegedly sent £35,000 over two years in return. He noted, “Because of who he was as a BBC presenter and because he had such power… I felt like I trusted him and that he cared. But that’s how the manipulation started. I looked up to this man but he didn’t really care about me. I felt like he was taking advantage of me but I felt I had to listen to him because he was Huw Edwards.”

Despite initially staying silent to protect Edwards, the young man said he felt “sick” when he heard the news this week.

The Sun also published a video of Edwards allegedly waiting for the young man at a Welsh train station, filmed by the young man’s stepfather. The stepfather told the newspaper, “I was so angry. I just wanted to confront him and tell him to stop doing what he was doing.”

Edwards was suspended by the BBC in July last year. His wife later publicly named him as the TV presenter at the centre of the allegations. The young man revealed that Edwards texted him from an unknown number last October, a few weeks before his arrest, asking him to download the messaging app Signal to “catch up.”

Edwards has not commented on the claims and resigned from the BBC in April, citing medical advice. On Wednesday, he admitted to possessing 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp. These included seven category A images, the most serious classification, two of which depicted a child aged between seven and nine.

Police later revealed that the man who sent the images to Edwards was a convicted paedophile. Until last year, Edwards was one of the main presenters on BBC One’s News at Ten and often fronted coverage of major national events. He was charged last month and could now face a jail sentence. He will next appear in court on September 16 .