BBC presenter charged with 'sexually assaulting' young girls

Veteran BBC television and radio presenter Stuart Hall has been charged with sex attacks on young girls.

He was charged with indecently assaulting three girls, one as young as eight, in alleged attacks dating to almost decades back in 1974.

The former It's A Knockout host and BBC Radio 5 Live commentator, 82, was arrested by police, and was then taken to a police station where he was questioned for several hours over accusations of indecent assault.

"Following investigations by Lancashire Police into allegations of sexual assault by Stuart Hall, I have reviewed all the evidence that they have gathered and have authorised Lancashire Police to charge him with three counts of indecent assault," the Daily Mail quoted a judge prosecuting the case, as saying.

According to the paper, the first charge is between September and December 1974 when Hall indecently assaulted a woman who was then aged 16 or 17 years, the second charge alleges he indecently assaulted a girl aged eight or nine in 1983, and finally he again indecently assaulted a 13-year-old girl between July and September 1984.

Hall, famed for his distinctively highbrow approach to football commentary, was released from custody and bailed to appear before magistrates next month, the paper said.

He was arrested in Cheshire, where he lives with his wife of 44 years, Hazel, 74. The couple, who have two grown-up children, Daniel and Francesca, are popular among the local community where they carry out a lot of charity work, it added.

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