Leslie faces sex trial

TV presenter John Leslie was dramatically charged with indecent assault today.

In an astonishing development Scotland Yard announced it is pressing ahead with a prosecution against the former host of ITV's This Morning.

Leslie, 38, was charged with two counts of indecent assault on one woman between 25 and 28 May 1997.

He emerged from Forest Gate police station in east London after hearing of the charges and immediately announced he welcomed the chance to clear his name.

Speaking for the first time since his arrest last December, he declared his innocence. "There is absolutely no truth in the charge made against me. But now I will have the chance to show my innocence in a court of law to a jury of my peers," he said.

"Over the last nine months I have been asked to remain silent by the police and not to answer my accusers in the press in order that they can conclude their investigation quickly and without additional prejudice.

"I cannot tell you how very difficult it was for me and my family to remain silent with such accusations facing me."

He paid tribute to the support from his girlfriend Abby Titmuss and the loyalty of his friends for standing by him in what he described as his "ongoing nightmare".

The accusations arose after the publication of Ulrika Jonsson's autobiography in which she claimed she had been date-raped when she began her television career as a weather girl with TV-am.

The identity of her attacker became the subject of speculation and eventually Leslie was named live on Channel 5 by journalist Matthew Wright.

Later Scotland Yard launched its inquiry after one woman accused Leslie of rape and another two claimed he had indecently assaulted them. Today's announcement means he will not face a charge of rape.

Leslie, who consistently denied the accusations, has spent much of the past eight months at his west London home awaiting the outcome of the inquiry.

Friends reported that he struggled with depression and put on weight. Leslie was sacked from his £250,000-a-year job on This Morning after allegations of assault arose last autumn.

He was arrested in December by detectives investigating the alleged rape of a 30-year-old woman at a party in south-west London in 1998 and the alleged indecent assaults. The maximum sentence for a charge of indecent assault is 10 years.

The 6ft 5in star, wearing a light grey suit, white shirt and blue tie, arrived at Forest Gate police

station flanked by two bodyguards at 11.20am looking relaxed and smiling after an hour-long drive from his £2 million home in Sheen.

The Crown Prosecution Service formally told detectives on Monday there was no evidence to bring the more serious charge of rape against the TV presenter.

He was charged today under the Sexual Offences Act.

Leslie was bailed to appear at Bow Street magistrates' court on 2 July. Police sources said they had acted on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service.

The case was investigated by the Yard's elite Special Inquiry Unit, the same squad which investigated former royal butler Paul Burrell.

It will be a major test for the credibility of the squad, which was criticised for its actions in relation to the Burrell inquiry.

Melanie Cantor, Ms Jonsson's publicist, said today: "Ulrika will not be making any comment on this whatsoever. She is currently in Sweden preparing for her wedding to Lance Gerrard-Wright on August 16."

Miss Jonsson has still not publicly named her alleged attacker and has not been interviewed by police.

The blonde TV presenter will marry former Army officer Gerrard-Wright on the island of Varmdo, near Stockholm, where she has a £1 million estate on her 36th birthday.

They met when he appeared on her TV dating show Mr Right.