John Leslie ‘slipped his hand down woman’s trousers on hen do’
A BANK worker broke down yesterday as she told a court she had been sexually assaulted by former TV presenter John Leslie on her hen night.
The 27-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed she was groped by the former Blue Peter star only two weeks before her wedding.
Prosecutors say 53-year-old Leslie, from Edinburgh, put his hand inside the woman’s jeans and touched her buttocks after meeting her at the Atik nightclub in the Tollcross area of the capital on June 25 last year.
Giving evidence from behind a screen during the first day of Leslie’s trial, the woman told Edinburgh Sheriff Court: ‘It has been one of the toughest years of my life on what should have been the happiest.
‘I got married two weeks later and I don’t know how my husband has lived with me. It has had an impact on my relationship with him and on my family.’
She also told procurator fiscal Fiona Nairn that she had twice been forced to sign off sick from her job and had been prescribed anti-anxiety pills.
The woman said she had attended the club dressed in ‘tight jean leggings’ under a handmade colourful tutu, a white shirt with the words ‘bride to be’ written across the front and a necklace made from a shot glass.
She had also been given an inflatable doll to carry, with her fiance’s face
‘I wouldn’t say he was a gentleman’
stuck on it. The court heard the hen party had been drinking Woo Woo and Sex on the Beach cocktails before heading to the club at around 10.30pm.
The witness said she had first bumped into Leslie – who appeared in court under his family name Stott – on the stairs and said he had been ‘pleasant enough’.
During the evening they had spoken about football, some of his former girlfriends and speculation he could appear in the TV programme Celebrity Big Brother.
CCTV footage from later in the evening showed the pair dancing and taking up what was described as a ‘traditional ballroom-style’ position.
Asked to describe the assault, the witness said: ‘He touched my bottom, touching flesh. It happen so quickly I don’t know whether he managed to slip it underneath my underwear or not but it was the part of my cheek that was outwith the underwear.’
She said she shot her friend a look she told her she would ‘never forget’.
Police were later called to the club and the witness was taken to the police station, where she gave a statement. Her clothes were taken as evidence.
The witness told defence lawyer Derek Ogg, QC, that she had been ‘too drunk to drive, but was not out of control’.
Mr Ogg pointed out that on CCTV footage of the pair dancing, she did not appear to be upset. When asked if the defendant had been ‘polite’ and a ‘gentlemen’ at that point, the witness replied: ‘I wouldn’t say he was a gentleman, but he was pleasant enough’.
The solicitor said that in the footage, Leslie could be seen with his hand in the small of the woman’s back and at one point she had her arms around his neck.
Asked by Mr Ogg why she had not immediately raised the alarm or said anything to the TV presenter at the time, she replied: ‘His hand going down my trousers was out of the blue. I was shocked.
‘I didn’t know how to react. At the time I was in total disbelief. I wanted the ground to swallow me up.’
She said that images showing her dancing with friends after the alleged incident were her seeking comfort, not ‘having a laugh’.
A Scottish Police Authority forensic scientist told the court that Leslie’s DNA had been found on the inside of the woman’s trouser waistband and it was unlikely to have been the result of a secondary transfer from the witness’s hands after touching the defendant.
However, a second report commissioned by the defence team, described finding a ‘minor’ amount of Leslie’s DNA on the waistband and said a secondary transfer was possible.
Leslie denies a single charge of sexual assault.
The case is set to continue on Friday.