Jan Leeming: I was violated in frisk at Heathrow Airport

FORMER BBC newsreader Jan Leeming has revealed how she was left ‘nauseated’ by an ‘intimate frisk’ at Heathrow.

Writing on her blog, the 75-year-old, left, said she felt ‘violated’ by the recent search by a female airport security officer. ‘I had kept on a rather heavy silver necklace and it set off the security – fine.

‘So far so good. But the woman who frisked me was more than intrusive. Instead of the pat-down one usually receives, I had my whole body “rubbed” and she even put her hand down the back of my trousers.’ She added: ‘The hand down the trousers was possibly because of my HRT [hormone replacement therapy] patch but I found the whole experience nauseating – however it has not “ruined my life”.’ In the same posting – entitled ‘sexual harassment’ – Ms Leeming also revealed how she was ‘goosed’ by a stranger on an escalator at St Pancras Station in London last year. She said some recent highprofile allegations of sexual harassment were ‘clouding the real, sickening, and appalling cases of rape and abuse’. Ms Leeming, who recently starred in Channel 4’s Celebrity First Dates, said she had experienced a number of inappropriate sexual advances at work but none had affected her life adversely.

Heathrow said it regretted that her security screening ‘may have fallen short’ of its expected standards.

‘She even put her hand down my trousers’