Paedophile Stuart Hall Released From Prison

Paedophile broadcaster Stuart Hall will be home for Christmas and his 86th birthday next week after he was released from prison.

The former It's A Knockout presenter was freed from HMP Wymott in Leyland, Lancashire, after serving half of his second jail term for historical child abuse offences.

Hall was jailed for 15 months in June 2013 after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls aged between nine and 17.

His sentence was later doubled by the Court of the Appeal which ruled the sentence was "inadequate".

In May 2014 he had a further 30 months added to his sentence - to run consecutively - for two indecent assaults on another girl.

The court was limited to sentencing according to the law at the time of the offence, meaning Hall escaped a minimum eight-year jail term for one of those assaults.

The father-of-two will be on licence for 15 months and as a convicted sex offender will be subject to strict conditions.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We do not comment on individuals.

"Public protection is our top priority and offenders automatically released on licence at the halfway point of their sentence are subject to strict controls.

"If they fail to comply with these conditions or their behaviour indicates it is no longer safe for them to remain in the community, they can be immediately returned to prison."

Hall signed his £1.2m home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, over to his wife before admitting the first set of offences. The property is currently thought to be on the market.

He was a well-known face and voice in British broadcasting for half a century, most recently providing eccentric football summaries for BBC Radio 5 Live.

He was stripped of his OBE for broadcasting and charity after his convictions.

Liz Dux, an abuse lawyer who represented 12 of Hall's victims, said: "Hall has settled the civil claims against him without any admission of culpability and with no sense of remorse for the harm he had done.

"His victims will feel he has got off lightly and is now free to live the rest of life unaffected whereas they are left with the consequences."