BBC sports reporter Stuart Hall charged with three counts of indecent assault against young girls

 

News in pictures
World news in pictures
From the blogs

“I’m not going to do ANYTHING for you”

Time for the monthly treat from David Hayes, who writes about British politics for the Australian In...

Dish of the Day: Could new brews win over craft beer drinkers?

Cask ale brewers don’t come much bigger than Marston’s. In fact the brewery, which also owns thousan...

Nadine Dorries’s new business: an engineering consultancy that has become a media consultancy

Nadine Dorries talks freely about many things, but not whether she was paid to go on I'm a Cleberity...

Children’s Books: Recommended read – ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakes in bed one night to discover that the yew tree outside his house has ...

       
Suggested Topics

The veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall, 82, was tonight charged with three counts of indecent assault on girls aged between nine and 16 years old.

Mr Hall, the former presenter of It's A Knockout, now known to millions of football fans for his florid match reports on BBC Radio 5 Live, was arrested at his home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, this morning over "historic allegations" of rape and indecent assault.

Lancashire Police said the 82-year-old, who has a broadcasting career stretching back 50 years, had been charged in connection with alleged offences between 1974 and 1984 involving three girls.

"Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service an 82-year-old man has today been charged with three offences of indecent assault," read a Lancashire Police statement.

It added: "He has been released without charge on the allegation of rape and a further allegation of indecent assault." Mr Hall has been bailed to appear before magistrates in Preston on 7 January.

He was taken for questioning by detectives from Lancashire Police this morning. Police officers arrived at his home at around 8am and stayed until 2pm, before leaving carrying two bin bags full of evidence. Two marked police vehicles remained in the driveway of his home for several hours.

Mr Hall rose to national fame as the host of It's A Knockout between 1972 and 1982 before going on to become a BBC television fixture as the original host of A Question of Sport and Going, Going, Gone.

"We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously," said a Lancashire Police spokeswoman. She added: "We would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse or who has been a victim to come forward and report their concerns, confident in the knowledge it will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity."

Mr Hall is currently a football correspondent for BBC Radio 5 Live, where his weekend match reports have acquired cult status for being scattered with allusions to the works of Shakespeare.

When asked whether the arrest was connected with the Metropolitan Police's Operation Yewtree investigation into hundreds of cases of alleged sexual abuse by the late Jimmy Savile and others, the Lancashire Police woman said: "I can tell you it isn't."

The musician Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr were arrested and bailed under Yewtree last month. DJ Dave Lee Travis and a man in his 70s were arrested and bailed earlier in November as part of the operation.

A BBC spokesman said: "In light of the very serious nature of these charges Stuart Hall will not be working at the BBC while the police continue with their enquiries."

Day In a Page

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends