Fred Talbot guilty of indecently assaulting two teenage boys
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Version 0 of 1. The former television weatherman Fred Talbot has been convicted of indecently assaulting two teenage boys when he was a teacher. Talbot committed the crimes before he rose to fame leaping across a floating weather map in Liverpool’s Albert Dock on the ITV show This Morning. The 65-year-old, of Bowdon, Greater Manchester, had pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges against him and was cleared of eight counts of indecent assault in relation to three complainants. Following the verdicts at Minshull Street crown court, Manchester, it can be reported that a number of similar complaints against him about offences said to have been committed in Scotland have been passed to authorities there. Four of the complainants in the case before the court in Manchester were teenage pupils at Altrincham grammar school for boys, where Talbot taught biology, while the other attended a high school in Gateshead when Talbot was at teacher training college. Neil Usher, prosecuting, said Talbot’s modus operandi was to establish his “good-guy credentials” before breaking down the proper teacher-pupil boundaries, leaving his victims confused as he made his advances. Talbot had denied anything sexual or even inappropriate occurred between him and the Altrincham pupils, while he said sexual activity with the Gateshead complainant happened when the boy turned 16. However, the court heard that Talbot’s teaching career came to an abrupt end in May 1984 after an indecent proposal he made to two pupils at his home. He offered his bed for the night to the 15-year-old boys and said to them: “Make sure you leave room for me in the middle.” Talbot kept quiet about why he resigned from Altrincham grammar school as his television career took off. The charity Victim Support said the conviction was testament to the bravery of the men who came forward to give evidence against Talbot. Lesley Daniels, divisional manager for Victim Support, said: “This can be extremely stressful, especially in a high-profile trial like this. As a charity which supported many of the witnesses involved in this trial and thousands of victims of sexual assault every year, we know that this type of crime can have a long-lasting, devastating impact on people’s lives. It’s vital people are aware of the support that’s out there.” Judge Timothy Mort said he did not require pre-sentencing reports but told Talbot his sentence should start on the day of the convictions, bearing in mind his “abuse of trust”. Talbot was passive as the foreman read out the verdicts. He looked slightly surprised as he was told he was to be remanded in custody and nodded to the jurors before he left the dock. Among the prosecution witnesses at the trial was the Stone Roses singer Ian Brown, who testified that Talbot set his class at Altrincham masturbation homework when they were 11 and that the teacher also showed the boys a gay porn film during sex education. Other witnesses talked of how Talbot was their favourite teacher, more of a friend than an authority figure. The two men Talbot was found guilty of assaulting told the jury they were sexually assaulted by Talbot in the mid-1970s on canal boating holidays. Both said Talbot abused them after luring them into his bed. One told the jury Talbot took the older boys to the pub and brought beer back to the barge for the younger pupils. Once they were all drunk, he suggested some of the boys pretend to be girls so that they could have an “orgy”, which had to be kept secret. The jury heard that this complainant previously contacted police in 1992, 1996 and 1998 to say that Talbot had sexually abused him, but officers decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. The fourth complainant said he was drinking in a pub local to Talbot when he and some of his friends were invited to the defendant’s home. Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s north-west area, said the victims, and other witnesses in the case, had shown real courage and resolve in reporting what happened to the police and giving evidence during the trial. He added: “As a teacher, Fred Talbot was in a position of trust and responsibility. Parents and pupils saw him as a popular, likeable teacher who was willing to give up his time to take children away on school trips.” “In fact he used those situations as opportunities to sexually assault two teenage boys who should have been safe in his care. The offences he committed were a gross betrayal of the trust placed in him.” |