Disgraced Hall swaps his £1m mansion for a council house
AS HE puffs on a cigar outside his rented council estate semi, Stuart Hall’s fall from grace could hardly be more evident.
Eleven months after the disgraced broadcaster was released from prison halfway through a five-year term for child sex offences, he has moved into a modest house in a rough area in the north of England.
Hall’s move to the £600-a-month three-bedroom home comes three months after he was released from his bail hostel accommodation.
Driving a ten-year-old borrowed Mercedes – a gift from a friend – Hall, 86, is living off half his pension, with his estranged wife, Hazel, 77, understood to be taking the rest.
His new home, rented from a friend, contrasts sharply with his opulent former home in the upmarket Cheshire town of Wilmslow.
Weeks before his guilty plea, the former BBC star signed over the mansion to his wife to protect his fortune from compensation claims by his victims. He was left with no money from the sale of their hacienda-style home, which went for £995,000 in February – nearly £300,000 less than the original asking price. It was in the swimming pool of this property that Hall abused four of his victims.
Publicly, the former It’s A Knockout presenter has remained unrepentant about his crimes, which included indecently assaulting 13 girls – one as young as nine – between 1967 and 1985, but the
‘Trying to keep a low profile’
Mail can reveal that he has joined a local Baptist church, and is a regular Sunday worshipper.
He has even been allowed to give occasional readings and, according to one neighbour, has been accepted by the local community.
A family friend, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘He is an old man now, and poses no threat. Stuart goes for a walk most mornings, and is sometimes collected by friends and taken out for the day, but by and large he remains holed-up indoors. He has very little money, and often has to rely on others for food. Stuart recently started going to church and has told people it is his way of repenting, but there are a lot of people in his neighbourhood who would not take to kindly to a convicted paedophile living on their doorstep. It is no surprise he is trying to keep a low profile.’
Hall lives within a mile of a primary school, and on a street populated by young families.
News of his move comes after his wife of 58 years called time on their marriage earlier this year. Indeed, as Hall puffed on his cigar yesterday, his gold wedding band was noticeably absent.
He was jailed for 15 months in 2013 but this was doubled by the Court of Appeal. He received 30 months more for indecent assault in 2014 but was released last December.
An inquiry for the BBC found that Hall was allowed to abuse girls as young as ten at the BBC between 1967 and 1991 because of his ‘untouchable’ status. He was able to abuse 21 women and girls through his broadcasting work.
Last night he declined to comment on his new life.