ACCUSER DENIES FRAMING COSBY WITH SEX CLAIM

Bill Cosby’s chief accuser at his sex-assault trial Monday denied framing him and said she doesn’t know a key witness who plans to testify she spoke of levelling false accusations against a celebrity.

Andrea Constand told jurors she doesn’t “recall ever having a conversation with” Marguerite Jackson. Both women worked at Temple University around the time Constand says Cosby drugged and molested her at the comedian’s home in 2004.

The defence plans to call Jackson as a witness and says she will testify that before Constand lodged her allegations in 2005, Constand had mused to her about setting up a “high-profile person” and filing suit. Jackson has said that she and Constand worked closely together, had been friends and had shared hotel rooms several times.

A judge blocked Jackson from testifying at last year’s trial, which ended in a hung jury, after Constand took the stand and denied knowing her. Since then, prosecutors have told Cosby’s lawyers that Constand had modified her statement to acknowledge she “recalls a Margo.”