The 63-year-old former newsreader looked tired and pale as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court with a wheelie suitcase in hand and a team of lawyers in tow.

While the bright lights and awaiting photographers would have been a familiar scenario, this time there was no red carpet, sharp suit or make-up artist to ease the former presenter's passage into the building.

Wearing a buttoned-up navy blue cardigan and white shirt without a tie, he cut a very different figure to the Edwards we recognise from the nightly News At Ten.

It was hard to believe he was formerly the BBC's top-paid newsreader and the man who announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Edwards's mugshot, taken after his arrest in November and released today, showed the almost unrecognisable face of a man with stubble, bags under his eyes, red in the face and with a small nick to the top of his forehead.

Expressionless, prayer-like pose

In the dock, when listening to the judge's summary of the case a largely expressionless Edwards leaned forward in his chair.

The former vice president of the National Churches Trust put his hands to his mouth in a prayer-like pose, listening intently.

When asked to stand for the judge to deliver his sentence, Edwards displayed a rare moment of movement, pulling down at the hem of his cardigan, a subconscious action maybe, revealing the nerves he had managed to disguise until then.

Once a TV giant - with his distinguished career and six-figure salary now far behind him - the judge handed Edwards a six-month suspended sentence and concluded by telling him he no doubt had "a lot to think about".

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And with that Edwards headed out to the media frenzy awaiting him outside.

No doubt he was thankful to have avoided jail time and keen to jump into the black Mercedes, which swiftly whipped him away from the flashing cameras and awkward reporters' questions.

One can only hope this scandal will help shine a spotlight, not on Huw Edwards and the BBC, but on the plight of the young children who were abused.