BBC veteran’s lawyer says he knows his ‘disgrace is complete’
Jonathan Brown
The veteran broadcaster Stuart Hall was described as an “opportunistic predator” and warned he faces a possible jail sentence after admitting 14 counts of indecent assault involving victims as young as nine.
Preston Crown Court heard that the 83-year-old’s “disgrace was complete” after it can be reported for the first time that he kissed and touched 13 children and teenagers over an 18-year-period.
A charge of rape dating back to 1976 and three other offences against another woman were allowed to lie on file after the victim accepted it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the prosecution.
Hall, who has awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to broadcasting, had previously strenuously denied the charges against him describing them as “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious”.
But his barrister Crispin Aylett QC today apologised to his victims on his behalf. “He is not a man easily moved to self-pity but he is only too aware that his disgrace is complete,” he said.
Hall was released on bail and told and will be sentenced next month. The maximum sentence for indecent assault carries a prison term of 10 years. He was told he must not have unsupervised access to children and will be required to sign the Sex Offenders Register.
The assaults ranged from kissing to “digital penetration” of his victims including one child who he fondled whilst she was in bed at her family home where Hall was attending a dinner party with her parents. Prosecutors praised the women – none of whom knew each other – for coming forward.
The offences occurred between 1968 and 1986 when Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, was at the height of his fame presenting the hit programme It’s a Knockout.
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor in the North West, said victims of abuse would not be denied justice by the passage of time. He said all of Hall’s victims provided “strikingly similar” accounts of their ordeal.
“Whether in private or public, Hall would first approach under friendly pretences and then bide his time until the victim was isolated. He can only be described as an opportunistic predator,” said Mr Afzal.
Hall admitted the charges at an earlier court hearing. Today dressed in a navy suit and striped blue tie he left the court amid a scrum of cameras telling reporters he had a “heavy cold” before being driven away in a private taxi flanked by his legal advisor.
A statement issued through his solicitors said: “Mr Hall deeply and sincerely regrets his actions. He wishes to issue an unreserved apology to the individuals concerned. He now accepts his behaviour and actions were completely wrong and he is very remorseful.
“Mr Hall also wishes to apologise to his family, friends and supportive members of the public for whom he has high regard and respect.
“The last five months have been a strain and an ordeal for his family, who are standing by him. He asks for privacy during the next few weeks and he emphasises that he is contrite and faces punishment with fortitude and remorse.”
A number of the victims came for forward after Hall’s first appearance in court on three charges of indecent assault. One of the original charges related to a nine-year-old who was abused in 1983 after Hall went to her and her brother’s room to read them a story whilst dining with her parents.
He approached the pre-pubescent youngster who was pretending to be asleep in bed and touched her under her nightdress on the upper leg and vaginal area.
The court heard that although she did not understand what had happened she was aware it was wrong. Another of the offences happened in 1984 and involved a 13-year-old who he had driven to a local tennis club.
He told the youngster that she needed to demonstrate her thanks for the lift “in other ways”. He pulled over into a lay by and switched off the engine and headlights before turning her head and forcing his tongue into her mouth.
He also admitted fondling the breast of a 16-year-old girl in the 1970s at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. She was introduced to the celebrity who put his arm around her and touched her outside her clothing against her will. She did not see him again.
Hall was arrested by Lancashire Police last year when he was dropped by BBC Radio 5 Live where he worked as a football match summariser.
Hall’s barrister said in his client’s mitigation that with the exception of the admitted offences Hall had an “exemplary character” the most recent case was in 1986 and that the oldest dated back half a century.
He said the broadcaster had “desisted” in his attacks when his victims showed discomfort. “In a number of cases the parents of the complainants were aware at the time of what was said to have taken place but took no action apart from the perfectly sensible one of keeping the child away from the defendant,” Mr Aylett said.
Detective chief inspector Neil Esseen, of Lancashire Police’s major investigation team, said the guilty pleas had allowed the victims to be spared the ordeal of giving evidence at trial.
“The fact that these convictions have come a long time after they were committed shows that we will always take any allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and will investigate them thoroughly no matter how long ago they happened,” he said.
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