Stuart Hall sentenced to 15 months for sex crimes

Stuart Hall arrives at Preston Crown Court. Picture: PA

Hall, 83, directly exploited his role as a popular BBC presenter with a “genial personality” to target four of his victims, while he assaulted another four on the pretence of giving elocution lessons to them at his home.

Sentencing him at Preston Crown Court, the Recorder of Preston Judge Anthony Russell QC said the public now knew there was “a darker side” to Hall which had been “hidden from view”.

The length of the jail term, though, was criticised as “unduly lenient” by shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, who urged Attorney General Dominic Grieve to look at the matter.

Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour party, tweeted: “18 years offending & Stuart hall gets less than 18 months. Unduly lenient sentence. Attorney General must refer sentence to Court of Appeal.”

Lawyers for some of the victims welcomed the sentence as a “strong and uncompromising message that abusers would not escape justice, no matter how long ago the offences took place”.

The former It’s A Knockout presenter and Radio 5 Live football match summariser pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent assault in April. But he had earlier made a public pronouncement on the steps of a court, describing all the claims against him as “cruel, pernicious and spurious”.

Judge Russell condemned Hall for choosing not to maintain a “dignified silence” and said: “It is clear from victim statements that your brazen attitude when first charged, and the public protests of your innocence, have added to the distress of some if not all of your victims,” he said.

Hall, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was arrested and subsequently charged on 5 December last year with indecently assaulting three young girls.

More women came forward as a result of publicity and Hall was rearrested before he later admitted sexual offences which took place from 1967 to 1987.

Following his first arrest, Hall told police the complainants were all lying as part of “a vendetta going on against people in the public eye”, said prosecutor Peter Wright QC.

Hall’s barrister, Crispin Aylett QC, said his client had been arrested as a consequence of the investigations into Jimmy Savile.

He referred to the 1,300 complainants in that case and said: “Instead, in the dock today is a frightened and bewildered 83-year-old man answering for the touching – no more, no less – of all of 13, not 1,300, victims over a quarter of a century ago.”

He said 27 years had passed since the last offence and that Hall had led an “unblemished life” over those years.

Judge Russell told Hall: “Several of these cases reveal an abuse of the trust placed in you by the parents of these children but all of them reveal an abuse of power by you because your status gave you an influence and standing which you abused.”

He was given sentences ranging from three months to 15 months, all to run concurrently.

Hall was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £11,522.

Following sentencing, the BBC said in a statement: “The BBC is appalled that some of Stuart Hall’s crimes took place in connection with his work at the BBC and offer an unreserved apology to the people he abused.”