Man 'sexually assaulted by solicitor before trial'

A MAN has told a jury that he was indecently assaulted by a defence solicitor moments before he appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court on the charge of murder.

- By CARL EVE

Alan Harris, 71, from Thorn Park, Plymouth, denies 30 charges and is currently on trial at Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire.

Speaking from the witness box Male G - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - told the jury that police came to see him in June 2016 at HMP Dartmoor where he was serving a prison sentence for murder. He told the jury that he immediately knew they were police rather than legal representatives.

Male G, who is now in his 40s, said: “They told me ‘you're not in trouble, we're here for something else’ and I knew I'd not done anything but I just knew and I went ‘Alan Harris’ and they went ‘Yeah, you're not alone”

Male G told the officers he gave a statement covering an alleged indecent assault by way of touching and kissing at an address in Plymouth sometime between March 2000 and March 2001 and a further incident in the cells under Plymouth Magistrates’ Court where he claimed Harris touched his penis and masturbated him on December 2, 2004.

The jury heard that Male G was introduced to Harris by an older relative who had been in trouble with the authorities and had used Harris as their solicitor. He explained that he himself had begun to get into trouble with police in his early teens with petty theft and drugs and was arrested a number of times, whereupon he was represented by Harris.

He said Harris was “quite warm, very tactile” adding that the solicitor would hug him and pat him on the bottom. He said that when he was “very young” he did not seem to notice the touching but it was not until he got older he began to feel uncomfortable with it.

Male G told the jury that by his late teens he was a heroin user and was associating with drug users. He said he would stay at the house of another male involved in crime in Plymouth. He said Harris visited the house as the other male was also represented by him, but the male left the property to go to the shops.