Celebrities take to the witness box to defend John Leslie over sex assault claim
Turner, a regular on the small screen for three decades and who has known the former television host since the 1980s, said if there had been "any stories" about him over the years she would have known about them but, as far as she was concerned, there were none.Leslie, 55 , from Edinburgh, denies one count of sexual assault, accused of grabbing a woman's breasts at a Christmas party in London's West End on December 5 2008.Turner gave evidence on his character alongside fellow presenters Diane Jordan and Yvette Fielding.Turner, who worked with him on the popular children's television show Blue Peter, said he was "absolutely adored" by women who worked with him, and said she found it "very important" to give evidence.She told the jury at Southwark Crown Court she knows Leslie "incredibly well".She said: "I would just like to mention, when he asked me to come I wanted to be here. This is very important."Asked about his behaviour around women she said: "I am a woman, he was always respectful, incredibly respectful, with myself."Turner said the team at Blue Peter had been largely female and "everybody loved him", adding that he was "absolutely adored by every woman I knew that worked with him".On the 2008 allegation, she said: "This is not the man that I know, not at all."The court has heard Leslie was wrongly named in 2002 by television host Matthew Wright as the unnamed person accused of rape in Ulrika Jonsson's autobiography.A year later he faced indecent assault charges against one woman, but these were dropped.Turner described "two Johns", describing the Leslie she first knew as "the life and soul of the party", adding that after the allegations she and others around him saw him "crumple".Jordan, who has also presented Songs Of Praise, said she had requested to give evidence at the trial "because I feel so strongly about this".Describing him as a "gentleman", she added that he was like a "big brother".She said he had gone from being an "exuberant" person to "like a shell" after allegations were made against him.On his behaviour towards women, she said: "I have never, ever, ever seen John behave in any way inappropriately with any woman."Fielding, giving evidence via videolink, said in all the time she had spent with him, including socially, she had never seen him acting inappropriately.She said: "Never ever in the time that I have known John have I ever seen him behave in a disrespectful way towards any woman or man."Character evidence was also heard from Leslie's former This Morning co-host Fern Britton.In a statement read to the court, she said: "I can confidently say that the allegations that have been made about John do not sound like the man that I know in the slightest."
Earlier, Leslie insisted that he knows the line between behaving gregariously and criminal behaviour and has "never crossed it".He also rejected a suggestion that he had exaggerated to the jury how paranoid he felt when socialising around the time of the 2008 allegation.On Wednesday, Leslie had told the jury that around the time of the alleged assault in 2008, he would have been "paranoid" on any social outing.Cross-examining him on Thursday, prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward suggested Leslie had exaggerated how paranoid he was.Leslie said: "If you had any idea of what I went through in 2003 (onwards), it didn't stop because of the court case."He added: "It's 17 years. It just is relentless. They are not stopping, the tabloid press. This is what they did. I'm not recovered, I'm not better. I'm not the person I used to be. I'm not a recluse, I grant you."Leslie went on to describe himself as a "wounded animal" and "still scarred".The barrister suggested to him that apart from being paranoid, he might also have been excited to attend the event that Christmas.He replied: "Excited, but still paranoid."Asked about the specific allegation, Leslie said: "I'm sorry I cannot remember being there (at the party) but I would never have done what she suggested."Asked if he had touched someone's breasts "in jest" or to "test boundaries", he replied: "No."There is a big line between being a bit of a gregarious character and criminal behaviour. I know the line and I have never crossed it."The prosecutor said it had been suggested by Leslie's defence team that the complainant had been after "her own MeToo moment", but Ms Ledward said that would require either the complainant to be lying and to have lied to the people she told at the time, or for all of them to have "got together and invented this story".Addressing the defendant, whose full name is John Leslie Stott, she added: "I'm going to suggest, Mr Stott, that (the complainant) told the truth and that back in 2008, probably over-excited and disinhibited at the party because you didn't get out much, you did exactly what she said."He denied this and said he had "no idea what is going through (the complainant's) head".Leslie has told the court how he had become depressed and suicidal when he "lost everything" after being wrongly named live on television in relation to a rape claim, and after the 2003 charges which were subsequently dropped.The jury has heard that a "raft" of allegations followed, with Leslie saying the tabloid press had made him out to be an "aggressive, sexual monster", something he strongly rejects.The trial continues.
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