Without saying anything, Leslie grabbed both of her breasts with both of his hands, laughed again and walked off
FORMER TELLY STAR DENIES SEX ASSAULT CHARGE Court told of ‘groping’ at Christmas party
FORMER TV presenter John Leslie groped a woman’s breasts with both his hands at a celebrity Christmas party, a court heard yesterday. The 55-year-old, from Edinburgh, denies sexually assaulting the woman. The alleged non-consensual touching is said to have taken place in London’s West End on December 5, 2008. Jurors were told the alleged victim only decided to speak to the police after the Me Too movement started in 2017. Leslie, who appeared at Southwark Crown Court yesterday under his birth name John Stott, was on Blue Peter between 1989 and 1994 and also presented Wheel of Fortune and This Morning. Jocelyn Ledward, prosecuting, said: “This case concerns an allegation of sexual assault. “Back in 2008, the defendant Mr Stott attended a party in a nightclub in London. “Shortly afterwards, he grabbed the breasts of a young woman quite deliberately for a period of a few seconds, before walking off.
“The young woman wa s stunned, shocked and spoke to people about the incident at the time.”
Ms Le dwa rd added: “The Christmas party was taking place in Greek Street, Soho. The woman was present. “A male she recognised as John Leslie made his way to the bar and she introduced herself. “She shook his hand and explained who she was. “Without saying anything, he grabbed both of her breasts with both of his hands, laughed again and walked off as he did so. “This went on by her estimation for about three seconds. “This is clearly no accidental touching, but a deliberate sexual assault. He knew that no one was going to challenge him.”
Ms Ledward told the court: “In recent years, other victims of sexual assault by high-profile names have come forward as part of the Me Too movement.
“She began to feel more angry about what she had experienced and decided to speak to the police.
“In March 2018, Mr Stott voluntarily attended a police interview. He chose not to have a solicitor and answered ‘no comment’ to every question.
“He only said, ‘ I’ve not assaulted anyone ever’.”
Former TV star turned property developer Leslie has denied one count of sexual assault relating to unwanted sexual touching of a woman in 2008.
On the alleged charges, Ms Ledward said: “He denies he did any such thing and if there was any physical contact between them, then it must have been an accident.”
The prosecutor told jurors Leslie’s case was that he had not behaved towards the woman the way she had alleged and therefore the issue they had to decide was “did it or did it not happen”.
Leslie, who was supported in court by his father, Les Stott, was released on unconditional bail last year. He had been due to stand trial in March but the court case was pushed back until this month.
The trial opened yesterday but the jury was discharged in the afternoon and judge Deborah Taylor said the case would start afresh today.
She told the jury: “A juror is unable to carry on, so what I am going to do, since we are in the early stages (of this case), is to discharge this jury and swear in another.”
The trial is expected to last three days.