Huw Edwards has been asked by the BBC to hand back the salary he earned from the corporation after being arrested on child abuse image charges.

In a letter to staff the BBC Chair Samir Shah said that Edwards had “behaved in bad faith”, saying that the corporation believed he had taken his salary despite knowing he was to plead guilty to the offences.

Edwards, formerly the BBC’s most high-profile newsreader, continued to earn his salary for five months after he was arrested on three counts of making indecent images of children, during which time he was paid more than £200,000.

Edwards was suspended in July last year and arrested four months later. He did not resign from the BBC until April this year.

The BBC has not confirmed whether legal proceedings will be undertaken if Edwards refuses to pay back his salary.

Director general Tim Davie confirmed in an interview last week that the corporation knew the presenter had been arrested over the most serious category of indecent images of children in November.

In a statement, BBC Board said it “supports the decisions taken by the director general and his team during this period”.

It added that had Edwards been up front when asked by the BBC about his arrest, “we would never have continued to pay him public money”.

“He has clearly undermined the trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute”.

Edwards pleaded guilty in July to three counts of making indecent images of children.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022 and relate to 37 images that were shared on a WhatsApp chat, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Between April 2023 and April 2024, Edwards received a salary between £475,000-£479,999, an increase of £40,000 on the previous year.

Last week, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Huw Edwards should return the £200,000 to the BBC.

The BBC has also announced a new independent review into workplace culture.

The review will “include work already being undertaken within the BBC, as well as working with the rest of the industry as appropriate”.

More information, including the leadership of the review will be announced in early September.