The BBC staff member suspended on allegations of sexual misconduct was identified by his wife on Wednesday as Huw Edwards, an anchor on the BBC’s flagship nightly news program and one of its most prominent and distinguished figures.
At the same time, London police said there was no evidence that Mr. Edwards had committed a crime, following a newspaper report last week that an unnamed BBC personality paid more than £35,000, or almost $45,000, to a teenager in exchange for explicit images over a period of several years that began when the person was 17 years old.
Mr. Edwards’s wife, Vicky Flind, issued a statement on her husband’s behalf late Wednesday, saying he had been hospitalized with “serious mental health issues” and would respond to the allegations when he had recovered.
“The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters,” Ms. Flind said. “He has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving inpatient care, where he’ll stay for the foreseeable future.”
The Metropolitan Police looked into the allegations after being contacted by the BBC. In a statement issued shortly before Ms. Flind’s, the police said detectives had concluded their inquiry and “have determined there is no information to indicate that a criminal offense has been committed.”
On Monday, a lawyer for the teenager told the BBC that the report, in the London tabloid The Sun last Friday, was “rubbish,” and that nothing inappropriate or unlawful had occurred between his client and Mr. Edwards.
The news that Mr. Edwards is the target of the investigation was no longer much of a surprise — his name had been widely rumored for days on social media — but it nonetheless landed with a thunderclap in Britain.
A veteran Welsh-born newscaster who joined the BBC as a trainee in 1984, the 61-year-old Mr. Edwards is, for many British viewers, synonymous with the broadcaster. He is the anchor who broke the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September, putting on a dark suit to mark the solemn moment.
Mr. Edwards then led the BBC’s coverage of the queen’s funeral, as well as the coronation of King Charles III in May, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, and the last general election, in 2019. He regularly anchors “BBC News at Ten,” the main evening news program, and is one of its highest-paid stars, earning up to 439,999 pounds ($571,000) a year, according to the BBC’s annual report.
For the BBC, it is the latest in a series of crises growing out of the conduct or statements of its on-air personalities. Most notoriously, the broadcaster faced fierce criticism over Jimmy Savile, a famous comedian and BBC host who was accused of being a serial sex offender after his death in 2011.