Leslie’s a gentleman adored by every woman he worked with, Blue Peter colleagues tell trial
JOHN Leslie’s former Blue Peter co- stars defended the star as a ‘gentleman’ yesterday – saying he was ‘absolutely adored by every woman’ he worked with.
Anthea Turner, Diane Louise Jordan and Yvette Fielding all rallied round the TV presenter – who is accused of sexual assault.
Fern Britton, with whom Leslie co-hosted This Morning in the 1990s, said she was ‘confident’ he did not grope a woman at a Christmas party more than a decade ago.
But she said she had stood by her friend in the years since he was named as Ulrika Jonsson’s rapist in 2002, an unsubstantiated allegation he has always denied.
Miss Turner, 60, told Southwark Crown Court Leslie welcomed her ‘with open arms’ when she joined the children’s TV show in 1992 because it was ‘very stressful’.
‘I am a woman, he was always respectful, incredibly respectful, with me and the team at Blue Peter, a largely female team’
‘He was incredibly respectful’
she said. Leslie had been ‘ the life of the party’ before the allegations about Miss Jonsson came out, the court heard. ‘There are two Johns. There is the John prior to the situation he found himself in 2003, 2004. That John was where the party was,’ said Miss Turner. But after the allegation came out, Leslie ‘crumpled’, she said.
‘He was constantly worried about where he was, who he was with, on edge, which was not the person we all knew,’ she added. Asked if he was capable of sexual assault, she said: ‘Everyone absolutely loved him, if there had been any stories I would have known and there were none.’
Miss Jordan, 60, said she had joined the show at a ‘bittersweet’ time, after losing her sister and felt under the limelight as the first black presenter in Blue Peter history. ‘I was feeling under the spotlight and very vulnerable,’ said Miss Jordan, who was on the show from 1990 to 1996.
‘If I had one the world to describe him, is he is a gentleman. He was extremely kind with me.’ Miss Jordan, who now presents BBC’s Songs of Praise, added: ‘I have never seen John behave inappropriately towards a woman.’
Former Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding, 52, also gave evidence via videolink. She described how during a six-week trip to Zimbabwe, where they shared quarters, Leslie would turn away whenever she changed. ‘If it was the middle of the night, and I had to go to the ladies’ restroom, I was scared to death of peeing in the bush and he would shine a torch.
‘He averted his eyes when I had to go to the lavatory. In all the years I’ve known John he’s been a lovely, lovely person. I considered him to be a brother to me.
‘We would spend many, many times going to nightclubs and going to parties and never ever in the times I’ve known John have I seen him behave in a disrespectful way to any woman or man.’
She added: ‘I’ve seen women going up to him and squeezing his bum in bars, and he’s been the one to pat them away.’ Leslie, who was on Blue Peter from 1989 to 1994, told the court earlier that he only went to the celebrity party where the alleged assault took place in the hope of ‘redemption’. The 55-year-old is accused of grabbing a woman’s breasts in a London bar on December 5, 2008.
He recalled: ‘I was still a wounded animal, I was still scarred by what happened. Knowing who was there, it was presenters and colleagues and producers. I was still hoping for redemption.’ Miss Britton, who said she was not at the party, said she had never believed the rape allegation. In a written statement, she said: ‘ I asked immediately if it was him.
‘He said no. I have no reason to disbelieve him. The allegations hit John very hard.’
Leslie would often visit her and her husband in their house, and even do the school run by pushing their baby’s pram, she recalled.
‘John always received a lot of attention, particularly from women and I never saw him behave inappropriately,’ said Miss Britton, 63. She said of the grope claim: ‘I am confident the allegation made does not fit with the man that I know in the slightest.’
Leslie denies sexual assault. The trial continues.