On the other side of the Atlantic, a man who was always only ever a minor celebrity is back in the news for a similar reason. In 1989, John Leslie joined the team of Blue Peter, a UK children’s television programme that debuted in 1958 and is still running today. From there he moved into news becoming a regular presenter. By 2002 he was an established face on the morning news, then his career went into a nosedive that few could have imagined. His contemporary, the Swedish-born weather girl Ulrika Jonnson, published her autobiography. Called Honest, she reported therein she had been raped by an unnamed individual some fifteen years earlier. Obviously she did not name this individual, but another TV presenter did; Matthew Wright blurted out Leslie’s name on live television, apparently by accident. Within two weeks, Leslie was sacked, not because of the rape allegation but because of other (genuine) revelations about his private life, in particular his using cocaine. These obviously came to light on account of the intensive scrutiny to which his personal life was then being subjected.
Leslie would shortly find himself accused of raping and indecently assaulting women left, right and centre. None of the allegations against him came to anything, but although his media career was not over, his days as a big earner were.
In 2008, he faced yet another allegation, this time a woman claimed he’d raped her at a party in 1995. Although her name was not released, it is clear from the information that was, she is yet another pathetic woman seeking to blame the downward spiral of her life on something tangible, albeit something that was also imaginary. This sort of nonsense is well documented, and is even used by men to explain away their life failures, and at times worse. In March 1994, the New York Times reported that according to his lawyer, Richard Caputo had been raped in an alleyway when he was a boy. Caputo was about to stand trial for serial murder, and was shortly convicted.
After the 2008 historical allegation was dropped, Leslie might rightly have thought this kind of insanity was behind him, and got on with his life as best he could. Alas! On June 25, 2017, back in his native Scotland, he danced with a woman in a nightclub, something he is unlikely ever to do again, and was accused of a minor indecent assault. He was charged the following November, and stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in June last year. Although he was only found not proven rather than not guilty, he appears to have gone to considerable lengths to prove his innocence. Was this woman acting out of malice, hallucinating, or what? We will attempt to answer that shortly when we discuss an even more bizarre allegation against Donald Trump.
After his acquittal, Leslie gave a TV interview, and again hoped to get on with his life. But guess what? On June 5, he was charged with sexually assaulting yet another woman. In December 2008!
It is difficult to believe the police and the Clown Prosecution Service would take such an allegation seriously after all Leslie has been through, and it is equally difficult to believe that someone in authority has not got it in for him big time, and wants to ensure that he is convicted of something at some point. This is by no means unique, at times the police have gone to extraordinary lengths to convict or even to entrap individuals they don’t like simply because they can. On occasion they have even incited people to commit serious crimes, including murder on at least one occasion, but best say no more of that here.
As with almost all historical allegations, no evidence is required to charge or even convict an accused, only a story. And perhaps a few tears for the camera. The allegation is almost impossible to disprove, the accuser is guaranteed lifelong anonymity unless she sees an opportunity to sell her story, and the accused is on a hiding-to-nothing.
Even if his is totally exonerated, there will still be those who claim there is no smoke without fire, and why would a woman lie?
The ridiculous historical allegation against Donald Trump by E. Jean Carroll has now been thoroughly debunked, but another Trump accuser gives an insight into how powerful or simply high profile men can be falsely accused by women who may be totally sincere yet not right in the head.
In August 2016, candidate Trump kissed campaign worker Alva Johnson. In February this year, she filed a lawsuit against the President accusing him of forcibly kissing her, and a number of other things. As was to be expected, this generated substantial publicity. On February 27, MSNBC uploaded to YouTube a 17 minute report on the case treating her allegation as credible, yet it is clear from her testimony therein that this is a woman who has serious emotional problems totally unrelated to Donald Trump. A short video clip of the actual kiss has recently been uploaded to YouTube, which not only undermines her credibility but must question her perception of reality.
There is unlikely to be any such video of John Leslie’s December 2008 encounter in Westminster, which may in any case have been imaginary, but while the imbeciles who control our criminal justice system are prepared to give spurious credence to any demented, attention-seeking or malicious female who points a retrospective finger at a famous face and cries assault or worse, no man anywhere is safe. Perhaps that is what they want?
[The above was published originally on Medium, July 13, 2019].
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