John Leslie is cleared of hen night sex attack on bride-to-be

THE former Blue Peter presenter John Leslie has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman while dancing with her on her hen night.

He had been accused of putting his hand down the back of her trousers and touching her bottom at the Atik nightclub in Edinburgh last June.

After a two-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, he was found not proven and told he was free to leave.

Sheriff Adrian Cottam said it was a ‘difficult decision’ as the evidence from the bride-to-be ‘on its own appears to be a credible and reliable account’.

But taking the case as a whole, he added, the evidence from the defence ‘adds up to a combination of factors’ that caused reasonable doubt.

Giving evidence, Leslie, 53, on trial under his real name John Stott, said: ‘There was no sexual assault. I did not put my hands down her trousers.

‘It’s something I would never do and have never done. I’m upset at the allegation.’

He added the woman, who cannot be named, had asked him to dance and he did so in a ‘proper and very respectful manner’.

Leslie, pictured yesterday, said that when police told him about the allegation of sexual assault he advised them to check the CCTV.

The former presenter of ITV’s This Morning programme and the game show Wheel Of Fortune, asked the club owner to keep the footage and paid to have it enhanced, telling the court: ‘I knew the allegations were false and I wanted every angle possible to show it.’

Earlier, his alleged victim cried during her evidence and said she had nothing to gain by making the allegation up.

Outside court, Leslie said: ‘It’s now time to move on from this year of hell.’

Responding to a question on the verdict of not proven, his father, who was standing beside him, said emphatically: ‘It doesn’t leave any doubt. He is innocent – absolutely, positively innocent.’