The Culture Secretary said former BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards should pay back his salary after admitting accessing indecent images of children.
Edwards was paid £200,000 after being arrested in November, while he was suspended by the broadcaster until he resigned in April on medical advice.
On Wednesday, the 62-year-old BBC veteran pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News at the Paris Olympics on Friday: “I think he should give his salary back.
“I think having him arrested on such serious charges in November and continuing to receive this salary until he resigned is wrong and not a good use of taxpayers’ money.
“I think most people in the country will agree with that, but it’s up to him whether he does it or not.”
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Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, said on Thursday that the corporation was aware that Edwards had been arrested about the most serious category of indecent images of children when this happened.
He faced questions about why Edwards was not fired and why he continued to receive his salary – the highest of anyone at BBC News.
Davie had an urgent meeting with Nandy on Thursday to address his handling of the case.
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Nandy told Sky News: “My concern is to make sure that not only are we making the right decision in this case, but that we are preparing the BBC for the future so that when people raise concerns, when decisions like this have to be made We are open and transparent, we are fair and we use taxpayers’ money appropriately.
“This is something that matters to the director general of the BBC and it is my job to make sure we get there.”
Last month it emerged Edwards received between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24 before resigning.
BBC boss: ‘We knew it was serious’
Davie suggested the company is considering legal action to recover some of the payments made to Edwards.
When asked about the disgraced newsreader keeping his pension, Davie said the money would be “very difficult to get back, almost impossible”.
He told the BBC on Thursday: “When it comes to paying, again, (it is) legally challenging (to recover), but we will look at all options.”
Huw Edwards pleaded guilty. Photo: PA
Davie said the BBC did not fire Edwards after being informed of his arrest because the police said: “Look, we need to do our job in complete confidence, we have arrested (Edwards), please keep this confidential.”
He added: “And at this point, I think the principle is clear in my mind, and I say we thought a lot about it, it was not an automatic decision.
“And it was difficult, but when the police, if you think about it in terms of precedent, people are arrested and then we have had situations where (there have been) no charges and there is nothing to follow up on.
“In this case, we knew it was serious. We didn’t know specific details, beyond the category of possible crimes.”
He added that if Edwards had been charged before resigning in April, he would have been fired “immediately.”
Edwards was the highest paid employee at BBC News
What images did Edwards have on his phone?
After their guilty confessions, it emerged Edwards was arrested after officers seized the phone of a pedophile named Alex Williams in a “completely unrelated investigation.”
When officers from South Wales Police examined the device, they found that Williams had sent 41 indecent images to Edwards in a WhatsApp chat between December 2020 and August 2021.
Of these, seven were classified in category A, 12 in category B and 22 in category C.
The estimated age of most of the children in category A images was between 13 and 15, a court heard.
However, prosecutors said there were also moving images of young children, possibly aged seven and nine, among the category A images.
As a result of the original investigation, Williams was convicted of seven offenses relating to indecent images and prohibited images of children. He was given a suspended 12-month prison sentence at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on March 15.
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