Retired solicitor denies allegations against him

ALAN HARRIS REFUTES ALL CLAIMS BY FORMER CLIENTS

- By CARL EVE

ARETIRED criminal defence solicitor accused of sexually assaulting a number of clients has told a jury that he denies all allegations against him.

Alan Harris, now 72 and from Thorn Park in Plymouth, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court. He initially faced 30 charges covering a number of offences including indecent assault and rape but this has now been reduced to 22 charges after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) withdrew eight charges relating to a complainant.

As Harris took to the witness box to deny the remaining charges, jurors heard more about his personal life as well as his career. He said he had been married to a woman who was a family law barrister and they had two sons, now in their 30s.

After they separated, he began a relationship in around 1997 with a woman called Kathy Taylor who had worked in the CPS office in Plymouth and later rose to head the CPS in the South West. He said they were still together and she was in attendance in the court’s public gallery.

He said he stopped practising law in 2016. The jury were told by Ms Whyte KC that Harris was interviewed by detectives on three occasions about the allegations against him and on all three occasions offered a prepared statement before remaining silent to all questions.

The first time was on January 5, 2016 in relation to Male A and Female A. On that occasion he gave statement saying that he “never” put his hand on Female A's shoulder or said she appeared “comfy”

He also stated he never said “I bet you are one of those £20 kind of girls’ although he said any questions = including about her relationships - would have been asked in preparation for the hearing and relevant to the hearing. He denied “completely” the allegations Female A made.

As to Male A's claim of an assault at his office he said this was “untrue”