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Musk accuses Britain of having ‘misplaced priorities’ over Edwards sentencing

Billionaire joins criticism surrounding former BBC News presenter being spared jail for child sex offences

Elon Musk accused Britain of having “misplaced priorities” after paedophile Huw Edwards was spared jail.
The former BBC News presenter’s six-month suspended sentence for child sex offences has sparked fury and led to accusations of a two-tier justice system in the UK.
Critics have claimed that the sentence gives the impression that sex crimes against children are taken less seriously than offences involving comments posted on social media.
Wading into the controversy on Tuesday, Mr Musk accused Britain of having “misplaced priorities”. He was reacting to a post by another user on his social media platform X that branded Edwards’s sentence “unbelievable”.
The post, written by Peter Imanuelsen, a Swedish freelance journalist, read: “A BBC presenter just AVOIDED jail time for buying ped*phile images. Meanwhile Britain sent a man to 38 months prison for a satirical post on X about the riots. WHAT’S HAPPENING???”
Mr Musk’s latest intervention comes after the billionaire branded the Prime Minister “two-tier Keir” following accusations that Right-wing protesters were being dealt with more harshly than Left-wing demonstrators.
It followed the outbreak of far-Right disorder across the country in the wake of the Southport killings.
The X post appears to be a reference to Tyler Kay, who was jailed for 38 months after stirring up racial hatred by using social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.
Edwards, who was the BBC’s highest-paid journalist, sent £1,500 to Alex Williams, a convicted paedophile, after receiving 41 indecent images of children via WhatsApp.
Westminster magistrates’ court heard how the married father of five told Williams to “go on” when asked whether he wanted “naughty pics and vids” of someone described as “young”.
The court heard that of the 41 indecent images viewed by Edwards, the majority of the children were aged between 13 and 15. But in one video sent to the BBC star, the child being abused was aged between seven and nine.
Commenting on the case, Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled”.
He refused to be drawn on the sentence, saying it was a matter for the court to decide.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him.”
The sentence for accessing indecent images of children as young as seven sparked claims that it sent the wrong message to offenders that they could avoid prison even if they had committed serious offences.
Miriam Cates, the former Tory MP and online campaigner, said: “As we have seen in recent weeks, courts are not afraid in principle to issue custodial sentences for online crimes.
“But the creation and sharing of child sexual abuse material is still seen too often as a ‘victimless crime’.”
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, added: “This is not a good look for our criminal justice system when we have recently seen offenders get custodial sentences for unpleasant things said on social media.
“It is no wonder the public have lost faith in our institutions. Something doesn’t feel right.”

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