Rough day to be a top news anchor in Europe. Can we assume they are both godless people?
Disgraced French former TV anchor
faces five new rape probes
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, one of France's top TV presenters for more than two decades, faces five new probes into rape allegations by his former colleagues, French investigators revealed Wednesday. "PPDA", as he's commonly known in France, was fired from TV channel TF1 in 2008 and has faced several sexual assault investigations over the past few years.
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French investigators have opened five new probes into rape allegations against former prime-time news presenter Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The 76-year-old has denied repeated accusations of rape or sexual assault. In December he was charged with the rape of writer Florence Porcel in 2009.
That probe was widened in February to look into claims of the rape of two more women and a sexual assault of another committed between 2007 and 2018, which could lead to fresh charges.
The new investigations are into accusations of rape during an earlier period, the prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and a lawyer told AFP.
The five accusers had filed previous complaints that were rejected for being past the statute of limitations, a source at the prosecutor's office said.
Poivre d'Arvor's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Amongst the five accusers, journalist Helene Devynck has alleged the television presenter raped her when she was his assistant in 1993. Another journalist, Stephanie Khayat, has accused him of two rapes in 1994 and 1997.
Marie-Laure Eude-Delattre claims Poivre d'Arvor raped her as a 23-year-old intern at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985. Margot Cauquil-Gleizes, now a teacher, said he raped her the same year when she was 17.
They were identified by their lawyer Corinne Herrmann. It was not immediately clear who the fifth person was.
After a preliminary inquiry opened in 2021, prosecutors dropped 19 out of 22 testimonies or legal complaints accusing the veteran presenter of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment for being past the statute of limitations.
But the five plaintiffs have used another legal channel to obtain investigations.
Herrmann said "these cases are not past the statute of limitations because there are several of them. When you have a cascade of cases, the latest annuls the statute of limitations for the one before it.
"France is reeling from a series of accusations of abuse in the arts and journalism.
Screen icon Gerard Depardieu, 75, is to stand trial in October over accusations of sexually assaulting two women. He was also charged in 2020 with rape two years earlier. He denies all charges.
(AFP)
Former BBC lead presenter pleads guilty
in indecent child images case
Huw Edwards, the BBC’s former top news presenter, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of making indecent images of children.
The offenses he pleaded guilty to at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London during a 26-minute hearing involved images shared on WhatsApp between December 2020 and August 2021 by a man who had initially contacted Edwards via social media.
Edwards, who was the lead anchor on the BBC’s nighttime news for two decades and led the public broadcaster’s coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, has been remanded on bail until a pre-sentencing hearing on Sept. 16. He could face up to 10 years in prison, though the prosecution conceded that a suspended sentence may be appropriate.
The court heard that Edwards, 62, was involved in an online chat with an adult man on the messaging service who sent him 377 sexual images, of which 41 were indecent images of children.
The images that were sent included seven of what are known as “category A,” which are the most indecent. Of those, the estimated age of most of the children was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between 7 and 9.
The court also heard that the unnamed male asked Edwards on Feb. 2, 2021 whether what he was sending was too young. Edwards told him not to send any underage images. Five more, though, were sent, and the exchange of pornographic images continued until April 2022.
“Accessing indecent images of underage people perpetuates the sexual exploitation of children, which has deep, long-lasting trauma on these victims,” said Claire Brinton of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Speaking in Edwards’ defense, his lawyer Philip Evans said there is “no suggestion” that his client had “in the traditional sense of the word, created any image of any sort.”
Edwards, he added, “did not keep any images, did not send any to anyone else and did not and has not sought similar images from anywhere else.” He added that Edwards had “both mental and physical” health issues and that he is “not just of good character, but of exceptional character.”
God help us when child porn users are exceptionally good characters.
Prosecutor Ian Hope told the court that Edwards’ “genuine remorse” was one reason why a suspended sentence might be considered. Setting out the potential penalties under the law, he said that where there is the prospect of rehabilitation, a community order and sexual offender treatment program could be considered as alternatives to prison.
A spokesperson for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said there should be “no doubt” about the seriousness of Edwards’ crimes.
“It can be extremely traumatic for young people to know sexual images of themselves have been shared online,” the spokesperson said. “We also need to see online platforms do much more to identify and disrupt child abuse in private messaging services in order to safeguard young people.”
Edwards, who was one of the BBC’s top earners, was suspended in July 2023 for separate claims made last year. He later resigned for health reasons.
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