Leslie: Ulrika damned me by her silence
Cleared television presenter John Leslie said today he could not understand why Ulrika Jonsson refused to comment on the allegations against him.
In her autobiography, the former weathergirl claimed she was date-raped when she was 19 by a young television presenter whom she did not name. She has refused to identify him since.
Former This Morning presenter Leslie was named by Channel 5’s Matthew Wright during his own morning show, The Wright Stuff, on October 23 and the next day all but two of the national papers followed suit.
Leslie, 38, told the Daily Express: “I was not damned by anything Ulrika said - I was damned by her silence. With one simple statement she could have resolved this one way or the other.”
The 6ft 5in Scot said that through his lawyers he asked Jonsson to “make some sort of clarification” but she refused.
He also told the paper he met Jonsson in the late 1980s and they had been “boyfriend and girlfriend” and “went out on dates and did things like couples do”.
“We slept together on our first date and it was very much her leading me,” he said.
Jonsson “certainly like it with me” and had “ a healthy appetite for it”, he added.
Following the naming of Leslie as Jonsson’s alleged date-rapist, two women went to the police and more than 20 went to newspapers alleging he had attacked them.
Only one case reached court – that Leslie had indecently assaulted an unnamed actress.
The charges were dropped last week and the judge said Leslie could leave court “without a stain” on his character.
Jonsson is to marry Lance Gerrard-Wright in Sweden on August 16.
Her mother, Gun Brodie told the Daily Mirror: “This is very unfair on her. But I don’t really want to talk about this sorry saga. We’re just looking forward to her wedding.”
