Stuart Hall Trial: Alleged Victim Taken Ill

An alleged rape victim under cross-examination in the trial of former broadcaster Stuart Hall has asked to leave court, saying she felt physically sick.

The woman held on to wooden panelling at Preston Crown Court as she left the building.

Earlier, she told the trial that she had kept quiet about being raped by the broadcaster partly for the sake of his wife, Hazel, and because he was a close family friend.

The woman claims she was raped and indecently assaulted over a period of three or four years from the age of twelve.

Speaking from the witness box, she said: "When your life changes in a blink at such a young age there are certain things you decide to do as a human being and I made the choice. That is what I did for 36 years. I chose not to reveal it."

Under cross-examination, the woman insisted that she had given no thought to financial compensation and, in a terse exchange with Hall's barrister Crispin Aylett QC, said: "I find it very insulting at this time to be asked this question ... I have not thought about compensation and I can't give you any other answer. I find it very, very hurtful."

The judge, Mr Justice Turner, intervened, telling Mr Aylett: "You have your answer. You may not like it but you have an answer."

The woman, who is now in her forties, alleges that Hall first raped her against a wall "like a rag doll" when her parents were away for the weekend and she was cleaning out stables.

She claims she was repeatedly raped at other locations, including his dressing room at BBC studios in Manchester.

She told Preston Crown Court that she became compliant, saying: "I was a child, so young when this happened.

"I have had to cope with it ... it never leaves you. It's very difficult to spend time in his company but I have had to do it all my life ... I chose not to tell anybody. I didn't do anything. Because I didn't do anything, I had to carry on as normal."

She said she had never stopped thinking about Stuart Hall's wife and his family.

The veteran television presenter has admitted one charge of indecently assaulting the woman but denies 20 other charges of rape and indecent assault relating to her and another woman.

He is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to a string of indecent assaults in a separate case last year.