Stuart Hall Not Guilty Of All But One Charge

Former broadcaster Stuart Hall has been found guilty of indecent assault - but cleared on 19 other child sex charges he faced.

The 84-year-old was cleared of raping two young girls following allegations dating back to the 1970s.

Hall is currently serving a 30-month jail term after he admitted indecently assaulting 13 other young girls, one as young as nine, over a period of nearly 20 years.

He pleaded guilty at the start of his trial last week to indecently assaulting one of two new complainants when she was aged 13.

Hall gave no reaction as a jury at Preston Crown Court cleared him of 15 counts of rape and four of indecent assault, convicting him of just one count of indecent assault.

But the former BBC presenter mouthed "thank you" to the jury as he was led away to the cells to continue serving his sentence for earlier offences.

Detectives and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers looked ashen-faced after the innocent verdicts were read out to the court.

Hall had maintained throughout his trial that the two women who later came forward to claim they were raped had agreed to consensual sex.

A CPS spokesperson said they respected the jury's verdict but defended the decision to prosecute Hall on the extra charges.

"At the beginning of this trial he pleaded guilty to an indecent assault against one of the girls when she was intoxicated and at home in bed and today he has been found guilty by a jury of a further indecent assault in relation to the same victim," they said.

"We take all allegations of rape and sexual assault very seriously and victims should know that we will prosecute such cases where it is right to do so."

A statement issued by Lancashire Police said the decision to charge Hall was taken "in the belief that there was a realistic prospect of conviction".

It can now be revealed that Hall complained about his "routine" being disrupted when he was moved to a different prison during his trial.

On the first day of the trial, Mr Aylett QC, told the judge: "Since the end of July the defendant has been in Leyland prison where he has something approaching a routine. He has a cell, his library, he has his clothes there.

"Yesterday he was told he may be moved to Preston for the duration of the trial."

The judge, Mr Justice Turner, said he had no power to intervene.

As the trial progressed, Mr Aylett brought up the subject again in open court - not before the jury - as he referred to the "extraordinary amount of dismay" it had caused to his client.