Man linked to Huw Edwards images case sentenced

A man who was sent dozens of child abuse images by the convicted paedophile who provided former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards with similar material has been sentenced.

Jac Davies, 25, was found to have more than 80 indecent images of children on electronic devices – 36 of those being the most serious Category A classification.

A court heard Davies was identified as part of an investigation by South Wales Police into the sharing of indecent images by convicted sex offender Alex Williams who also passed on pictures to Edwards.

Davies was spared jail after his defence team argued magistrates should consider "parity" with the broadcaster's suspended sentence.

Davies, of no fixed address, was given a sentence of 12 months, suspended for two years, at Leeds Magistrates' Court after earlier pleading guilty to possession of indecent images of children and possession of Class A drugs.

Edwards was previously spared jail at Westminster Magistrates' Court after admitting accessing indecent images of children as young as seven.

The court heard Davies was arrested by West Yorkshire Police last November as a result of the investigation by South Wales Police.

Prosecutor Michelle Kruger told the court: "Also involved... was a link between Alex Williams and Huw Edwards, the BBC News presenter.

"Both Williams and Mr Huw Edwards have been dealt with by the courts, and Huw Edwards, who you will be aware of, received a suspended sentence for the indecent images he was involved in."

The court was told officers found 84 indecent images on electronic devices belonging to Davies, including some involving babies.

Addressing the most serious images found, Ms Kruger said: "One of them was a moving image in a bedroom location showing a baby lying on a bed."

Ms Kruger said a Telegram chat was also uncovered, which showed Davies going into "graphic detail" about what he would do to newborn babies.

In mitigation, Davies' defence lawyer Stewart Page said his offences "were similar" to Edwards' and pointed out the disgraced newsreader was handed a suspended sentence.

Mr Page said a pre-sentence report described "a very difficult background with the defendant dealing with his sexuality".

He told magistrates: "You have here an individual who has clearly shown remorse when seen by both probation officers. He understands what he has done is wrong."

Davies was also ordered to attend an accredited sexual offending group work programme of no more than 43 days, and 55 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He was also told he would be prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16, except in the presence of a parent or another appropriate adult and will remain on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

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