Stuart Hall admits 14 counts of indecent assault
The former It’s A Knockout and BBC Five Live presenter (James) Stuart Hall OBE admitted to being a rapist and paedophile this morning.
This morning at a pre-trial hearing over allegations of historic sex offences at Preston Crown Court, the 83-year old admitted 14 counts of indecent assault on children as young as nine. The news comes just a day after Hall’s friend and fellow director of Oystons and the Ridings Publishing Company, the actor William Roache, also of Wilmslow, was arrested over an allegation that he raped an under-age girl in Lancashire between April and July 1967.
Hall had been initially charged with indecent assaults on three young girls dating between 1974 and 1984. He was later charged with raping a woman in the 1970s and committing 14 sexual assaults against ten further girls between 1967 and 1986. Now that he has admitted the offences, one count of rape and three other indecent assaults will lie on his file.
In one offence, Hall is said to have molested a nine-year-old girl by putting his hand up her clothing. In another, he kissed a 13-year-old girl on the lips after he said to her: “People need to show thanks in other ways”.
Hall had initially described the allegations as “pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious” but outside the court this morning, Hall’s barrister, Crispin Aylett QC, issued an apology on behalf of his client. Aylett stated:
“The defendant is, of course, sorry for what he has done. Through me he wishes to apologise to his victims. He is not a man easily moved to self pity but he is all too aware that his disgrace is complete”.
Inside the court, the Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell QC, told him Hall that would be required to sign the Sex Offenders Register. He freed him on bail on the condition that he must live and sleep at his home, Quinta, Prestbury Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 2LJ, and have no unsupervised contact with girls under 18.
In his favour, one could argue that Hall has done the decent thing by saving his victims a lengthy and very public trial but now that we know he’s guilty and his career is over, this paedophile truly deserves to be sent to Siberia by the broadcasting community.
Stuart Hall will be sentenced on 17th June 2013 and we are sure we’ll not be alone in calling for him to be stripped of his OBE.