Huw Edwards’s wife, Vicky Flind, has been praised for her “courageous” decision to name her husband as the BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager £35,000 for explicit photographs.

The television producer, 59, who has been married to the BBC anchorman for 28 years, took the extraordinary step of revealing his identity in a statement released yesterday, in which she also said he was currently in hospital with “serious Mental Health issues”.

And her decision won praise from fellow journalist Sarah Vine, the former wife of ex-cabinet minister Michael Gove, as well as former colleagues.

The story, broken by The Sun on Friday, triggered frenzied speculation about the identity of the unnamed producer, with stars including Nicky Campbell and Gary Lineker among those issuing public denials that it was them.

Simultaneously, there was speculation that MPs might opt to name him in the House of Commons using a procedure known as Parliamentary privilege, which allows elected officials to discuss matters of public interest without fear of prosecution for defamation.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Ms Vine said: “What Flind has done – identifying her own husband and finally putting an end to the malicious speculation – is therefore not only extremely courageous, it is also exemplary from a moral point of view.

“She has taken the decision to put a lot of people out of their misery, while inevitably drawing attention to her own – and that of her five children with Edwards.

“I can only imagine what they, and she, are going through.”

Others also spoke warmly of Ms Flind, whose credits include working alongside Andrew Neil on the BBC’s This Week and Daily Politics shows, and Robert Peston's ITV programme, Peston.

One former colleague explained: “I can’t say it was characteristic, but it was certainly typical of Vicky.

“She’s smart and she’s thoughtful, and although I cannot begin to imagine the nightmare they have been going through, I’m sure she would have taken the action she did to protect the family and Huw.”

Another said: “She’s one of the few people in television who is universally liked. There’s no side to her - she’s good news.”

Labour MP Jess Philips also paid tribute yesterday, tweeting: “Just coming on here to say that Vicky Flind is by some distance one of the nicest, kindest and most decent women I've had the privilege to work with.”

In her statement, Ms Flind said: "Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

"The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future."

Once the presenter, who has worked for the BBC for four decades, is well enough, he "intends to respond to the stories that have been published" and added that her husband was first told there were allegations "being made against him last Thursday”, she stressed.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday that no criminal offence had been committed by the presenter, and that no specific details or information about further allegations reported in the media had been provided to them.

Edwards, one of the BBC’s top earners on an annual salary of between £435,000-£439,999, has previously spoken about his mental health, revealing in a documentary in 2021 he had bouts of depression which have left him "bedridden" since 2002.