The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
DLT jury told Roache ‘irrelevant’
JURORS IN the trial of veteran disc jockey Dave Lee Travis must disregard the verdicts of the William Roache trial and not be influenced by sex offence allegations against other celebrities, a judge has warned.
A s he gave directions in the case against Travis, who is charged with 13 indecent assaults and one sexual assault, judge A nthony Leonard told jurors to forget he is famous as they deliberate their verdicts.
The judge said: “You won’t be unaware that the Jimmy Savile inquiry has spawned a number of inquiries into various people who were well known in the 1970s and beyond.
“During the course of this trial alone Rolf Harris has appeared here and of course Bill Roache has been tried elsewhere.
“The verdicts of the jury in the Bill Roache trial are all irrelevant to your consideration of this case. There is no such thing as guilty or innocence by association.
“You have no way of assessing the strengths or weaknesses of any other investigations but you can in this trial.”
On Thursday Coronation Street star Roache was found not guilty of two counts of rape and four charges of indecent assault following a trial at Preston Crown Court.
A ustralian entertainer Harris pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of indecent assault when he appeared in court last month.
Judge Leonard told jurors they must ignore those cases along with any media reports about Travis’s well-publicised trial.
“You are trying allegations of historic sexual assaults against someone who, as I say, has been in the public eye for many years. The fact that the defendant is a well-known personality does not change the rules of the way that you try this case.”
He added that after he had sent them to deliberate their verdicts: “You then decide what evidence you accept as truthful and accurate and what evidence you reject as unreliable.
“It is your judgment alone that counts.”