Ulrika tells of 'rape trauma'

Ulrika Jonsson today revealed she was so traumatised by her alleged rape that she could not have sex for two years after the attack.

The revelation came as John Leslie's career was thrown into jeopardy after he was named as Jonsson's alleged rapist.

The 37-year-old This Morning presenter, who has strenuously denied the allegations, has been taken off air as police investigate allegations that he raped another woman and a series of others came forward to give detailed accounts alleging he had assaulted them.

Today Jonsson continued to refuse to name the man she claims attacked her so violently that she spent five days in hospital.

In a GMTV interview with Lorraine Kelly, recorded before Leslie's name was disclosed, she told how she was so traumatised that she did not have sex again until she met John Turnbull two years after the attack. They married two years later.

"This thing happened to me when somebody forced themselves on me, and to me it really, really brought about a lot of feelings and attitudes towards sex which ... I have kind of managed to lose over the years," she said. "I had a great fear of it, I become very frightened.

"It took a very long time for me ever to be with a man after that. I think the next man was my husband.

"I included it [in her autobiography] because it explained a lot about me and my attitude towards this act."

Jonsson said she was not trying to protect the man who she alleges attacked her and believed it would be difficult to prosecute him successfully. "It's not about me protecting this person or me thinking anything favourably about this person at all," she said.

"I think it would be so difficult to bring about a prosecution about something that happened 16 years ago.

"I made a decision early on to not reveal the identity of the person because I feel very strongly maybe with hindsight I should have done something about it when I was 19."

Broadcast bosses now believe that Leslie, a former Blue Peter presenter, could face the end of his career unless he can clear his name.

A senior source said programme makers Granada and ITV, which broadcasts the show, were in an "impossible" position.

"It's impossible to address this situation until an allegation is officially made," said the source.

"But if it is, it's difficult to see how he could continue to work for us."

In a statement about Leslie which followed hours of crisis talks between him and the broadcaster's bosses, Granada said: "We have agreed with John for him to take some time off for personal reasons."

Leslie was dramatically named on live television yesterday by Channel Five's Matthew Wright as he prepared to broadcast his own show. Wright said: "Of the three women who have pointed the finger at John Leslie, one of them has a book out - £16.99 in all good bookshops - and the other two have gone to the highest profile publicist around."

Despite repeated requests for Leslie to confirm or deny the allegations publicly, the star and his spokespersons have refused to comment.

Granada has not said when Leslie will return to broadcasting after his "time off" and today This Morning co-host Fern Britton was presenting the show alone.

All but two national newspapers identified Leslie as the alleged rapist, along with broadcaster Sky, today.

At least five other women have now alleged in detailed accounts to newspapers that Leslie assaulted them. Detectives are today set to interview for a second time the 30-year-old woman from London who alleges Leslie raped her in 1998.

Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Group has taken charge of the inquiry after the woman walked into a City of London police station on Monday to make the allegations.

She is said to have broken down in tears when she saw an interview with Jonsson on television last week in which she discussed the alleged assault and told her mother: "That's the man who raped me."

A relative of the woman said: "They didn't mention the man's name on television but she knew who it was. She was absolutely devastated."

The assault allegations were made by a series of women who were in their twenties at the time they claim Leslie attacked them.

One woman said she had met Leslie at a party and agreed to go out for dinner with him, thinking he was charming, and then was invited to his home so he could call a taxi. But she alleged he threw her onto a pool table and kissed and groped her.

"I told him to stop but he kept on saying this was what I wanted," said the anonymous woman.

"I kept on saying 'No, no, don't'." But he wasn't having any of it. I ended up having to kick him."

Another woman claimed she was left "bruised and bleeding" after sleeping with him.

"He was so forceful and aggressive that I was bruised across my chest and down my stomach," said the PR worker. "He bit me so badly that I
bleeding."