DISGRACED broadcaster Stuart Hall – who assaulted a girl while filming It’s a Knockout in Ely – was sentenced to 15 months in jail for sexually abusing girls.
The 83-year-old, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, admitted 14 offences that occurred between 1967 and 1985.
Hall initially denied the claims when arrested in December, describing them as “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious” before admitting to them at a court appearance in April.
It’s A Knockout was filmed in Ely in 1973 when a team from the city triumphed against a team from Hertfordshire 19-1, a show record at the time.
The court heard that, on the same day that the episode was filmed, Hall assaulted a 17-year-old in a hotel
Sentencing Hall last week, Judge Anthony Russell said Hall had a “darker side” and took advantage of his “status as a well-liked celebrity”.
He said: “There is a darker side to you, one hidden from public view until now, and a side which you were able to conceal taking advantage of your status as a well-liked celebrity”
Prosecuting, Peter Wright QC told Preston Crown Court that Hall’s first victim was 16 at the time of the assault, which happened in late 1967 or early 1968 and the court previously heard that, in the 1980s, Hall molested a nine-year-old girl.
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