Disgraced former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards has rolled out a picture of himself drinking champagne with his mother in what appears to be the latest shameless effort to burnish his reputation.
Edwards, 64, began posting updates to his official Facebook page in October after being absent from public life since allegations against him were first published in July 2023.
The convicted paedophile first sparked speculation that he may be plotting an audacious return after he posted a brooding black-and-white professional portrait online last month.
Eagle-eyed followers have now noticed he updated his otherwise barren Facebook page just weeks previously with a picture of himself sipping glasses of champagne with his 88-year-old mother, Aerona Protheroe.
The image, which has been published previously, shows a smiling Aerona standing next to Edwards and has attracted several supportive comments from fans.
It comes after the sex offender mysteriously pulled his £4.75 million six-bedroom family home in Dulwich village off the market.
Instead he now seems to be focusing on soft-launching his own reinvention, with his Facebook page now featuring just the moody self-portrait, the picture of his mother and an image of what appears to be the Welsh countryside.
Edwards posted the photograph of Aerona without a caption, but in a further sign of his attempts to resurrect his formerly spotless reputation, he has begun interacting with fans.
He shamelessly liked one comment, posted less than a week ago, in which a fan said ‘you need to be looked after’.
Incredibly, this apparent concern comes just over a year after Edwards was spared jail for possessing indecent images of children.
Father-of-five Edwards last year landed a six month suspended sentence after investigations into the newsreader found he had been communicating with another adult male in a sexual manner.
Police discovered Edwards was giving him gifts and money, and that within their chat there were numerous sexually explicit images, including 41 indecent images of children as young as seven years old.
These included both still and moving images, and were made up of seven of the most serious Category A, 12 Category B and 22 Category C.
Once one of the most recognisable TV presenters in the country, Edwards pleaded guilty to the charges in July 2024, having quit the BBC on ‘medical advice’ months earlier.
He was convicted following a year of headlines which began when he was named as the presenter at the centre of a scandal over payments to a young person for sexually explicit images.
Yet he still appears to have a loyal fan base eagerly awaiting a possible return to the limelight.
After publishing his new headshot on November 30, Edwards methodically liked each comment beneath. ‘Miss your newsreading, mate’ said one. Another wrote: ‘Good luck for the future, Huw.’
But one follower was less sympathetic.
‘Is he on the comeback trail? Why else would he suddenly get a professional portrait done?’ they asked.
‘It looks like he’s ready to relaunch himself. No one uploads a glossy black-and-white portrait unless they’re preparing for a public re-entry.
‘The whole thing screams image rehabilitation.
‘Surely he can’t think that a well-lit headshot and a scrap of stubble will soften the memory of everything that’s happened.’
Before updating his verified Facebook page, Bridgend-born Edwards had kept firmly out of the public eye.
He was last seen in public in August clutching three mini bottles of Prosecco as he walked to his car in Swansea, South Wales, sporting a new white beard and glasses with a black trim.
As well as attempting to sell the family home, it is understood he is also in the process of divorcing his wife, Vicky Flind.
