| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sex charges for British TV host
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British television presenter John Leslie has been charged with two counts of indecent assault, police said. Leslie, 38, was charged by detectives at Forest Gate police station in east London Wednesday. He was bailed and will appear at Bow Street magistrates court in central London on July 2. The charges involve two alleged incidents between 25 and 28 May 1997 "contrary to Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956," Scotland Yard told CNN, both relating to the same woman. Leslie said there was "absolutely no truth" in the charges that he indecently assaulted a woman and said he welcomed "the chance to show my innocence in a court of law." Speaking outside a London police station, Leslie said: "This ordeal has been made all the more difficult because of how much it has upset my family, particularly my mother." Scotsman Leslie, the former boyfriend of actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, was presenter of ITV1's This Morning program from 1999 until last year when he was sacked in the wake of sex assault allegations and intense media speculation about his private life. He was believed to earn about $150,000 a year. Leslie was arrested on December 5 last year by detectives investigating the alleged indecent assaults, police told the media at the time. Leslie always strenuously denied the charges, and went voluntarily to be quizzed by police in October. The Metropolitan Police submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service on January 23 this year for lawyers to consider whether there was enough evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, the UK's Press Association reported. A file from the CPS went back to police Monday, PA added. A Scotland Yard spokesman told PA: "We received advice from the CPS in connection with this inquiry on Monday. "John Leslie's solicitors were contacted by our officers that afternoon and told of the advice and the decision to charge. "It was agreed that John Leslie would attend a police station today where he would be formally charged." Born John Leslie Stott in Edinburgh in 1965, and once a choirboy, Leslie first chose a career in music technology but a television producer told him he was a 'natural' for the TV screen. He rose to fame as presenter on the BBC's flagship children's show, Blue Peter.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
