Alan Jones faces 22 indecent assault and sexual touching charges, suppression order lifted

Alan Jones allegedly squeezed the bottom of a young man he had just met at a fashion show which made the complainant feel “very uncomfortable”, the New South Wales local court has heard in pre-trial evidence which can now be reported.

The 85-year-old former broadcaster has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges of indecent assault and two of sexual touching between 2003 and 2020. He has said the charges are “all either baseless or they distort the truth”.

On Wednesday, Judge Glenn Walsh lifted a suppression order on the crown case and the tendency and coincidence evidence, which is admissible at the trial beginning on 3 August and expected to run for four months.

Walsh said Jones now faces a total of 22 charges “said to have been committed against six complainants”.

Prosecutors last week argued they should be allowed to show there is a pattern of alleged behaviour by Jones involving the targeting of “significantly younger men” in his professional and social circle.

The prosecution submitted it is “improbable” that two similar accounts of Jones allegedly touching a complainant’s penis while driving would be “untrue”. Each complainant was driving a car and there was “no reciprocity prior to the touching”, the court heard.

The judge accepted that none of the complainants had any prior knowledge of each other.

“No complainant has any relevant association with any other complainant,” Walsh said.

Two of the six complainants told police they were assaulted on the first occasion they met Jones: one at a fashion show and one at a fundraising meeting.

In the second case, the man told police that while he was talking Jones placed his hand on the top of his leg and rested it on his bottom.

Other complainants had a relationship where the defendant was a mentor or benefactor, the court heard.

Two complainants had a relationship with Jones from a young age which evolved from a professional one to a friendship over time.

The defence had applied for a suppression order, submitting their concern that reporting of the allegations and the tendency and coincidence arguments may be read by a complainant and may prejudice the hearing.

In making his decision to lift the suppression order, Walsh said “no material has been presented to show that any media reporting to date has not been fair and accurate”.

Walsh said Jones has the presumption of innocence. “It is the prosecution that bear the onus of proof throughout, beyond reasonable doubt, for each element of each offence as charged,” he said.

The prosecution’s application to call two witnesses who refused to give a statement to police was denied.

The radio host, who denies the charges, was charged in November 2024 after an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald journalist Kate McClymont.