Alan Jones: Inside former talkback radio king’s sex assault trial

For the past three months, former radio king Alan Jones has sat in the front row of courtroom 3.1 in the Downing Centre Court complex in Sydney’s CBD, flanked by his solicitors and three barristers.

Every day, Mr Jones has arrived at court dressed in often colourful suits — which were only made from the finest fabrics, according to the evidence of his former butler David Allan.

Mr Jones is accused of kissing and groping five male alleged victims at his Circular Quay apartment, his Fitzroy Falls farm, at his 2GB work premises at Pyrmont, a Sydney restaurant and at functions across the city between 2003 and 2020.

The ex-broadcaster and former Wallabies coach, through his legal team, has denied that any of the alleged sexual acts took place and is battling 19 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching.

During the trial, prosecutors dropped one count of indecent assault relating to one complainant.

The trial has been running for 13 weeks and the court has now heard from all five complainants.

Several witnesses, including journalist Kate McClymont and police, are yet to give evidence, and the trial is expected to run until December.

This is what we know about the allegations against the former media heavyweight and kingmaker.

The ex-athlete

One man told the court Mr Jones kissed him on four occasions and grabbed his penis while driving to his Fitzroy Falls farm, as well as later that evening when they were staying at the property.

The man, a former athlete who was given the pseudonym “Complainant J”, was the first of five men to give evidence against Mr Jones in the marathon trial.

After first meeting Mr Jones at a young age, he said the radio host took a strong interest in his sporting career, heaped praise on his achievements and became a financial benefactor.

He told the court Mr Jones gave him a weekly stipend of $400 per week, which was later increased to $600 per week, so that he could concentrate on training, and provided him with a car and a silver Nokia mobile phone.

He alleged Mr Jones touched his penis during the car ride down to the Southern Highlands, and again inside the house later that night.

He told the court Mr Jones ordered him to have a shower and come out in only a robe, but testified he wore underwear.

The man alleged Mr Jones touched his penis over his underpants.

J said he retired to a spare bedroom before Mr Jones knocked on the door, pulled him in for a “sloppy kiss”, undid his robe and pulled down his underpants.

The ex-athlete said Mr Jones swivelled his hips so their penises touched.

It has been alleged Mr Jones grabbed J’s penis while they were sitting on the bed, with J telling the court Mr Jones let go of his penis before they both masturbated together.

During his lengthy cross examination, J was accused by Mr Jones’ defence of being motivated by money and a financial payout - a claim which he repeatedly and stridently denied.

He also denied an assertion that he had seen media reports of allegations against Mr Jones in 2023 and had used them as the basis for his own claims when he came forward.

‘Copped a feel’

Another man, who worked alongside Mr Jones, told the court the broadcaster repeatedly touched him on his penis while driving him home and kissed him in the lifts at the 2GB officers and his home.

“Complainant C” also told the court Mr Jones touched him on the penis, on the outside of his clothing, while they were seated next to each other during a lunch with a group of people at a Sydney restaurant.

He said he was seated next to Mr Jones, who placed his hand on his leg.

“I looked down and his hand was on my penis,” C told the court.

He said the incident was viewed by two guests who were looking at him and “almost sniggering.”

C told the court one of the men later asked him “something along the lines of ‘you copped a feel under the table, didn’t you? Did you like it?’”

One witness told the court he saw the man at the table looking “distraught” and he witnessed another man commenting to him: “you were copping a feel under the table.”

However that version of events was contradicted by others.

Former 2GB presenter Jason Morrison, who is now The Daily Telegraph’s chief of staff, told the court that at the lunch “some people joked (that Jones and C) looked like a great couple but it wasn’t anything else other than banter.”

Mr Morrison told the court that the joke was made in the context of the lunch at which C was sitting next to Mr Jones at the “adult end of the table” and it appeared C “wanted to be over with us”.

He denied overhearing a comment about C “copping a feel” or seeing anything untoward.

Through his defence team, Mr Jones denied he touched C and has argued that the lunch was at a completely different Sydney restaurant.

The other athlete

Another man, who was a high-profile athlete, told the court Mr Jones twice kissed him without his consent - once at an event attended by hundreds of people and at the broadcaster’s Circular Quay home.

The man, who can only be known as Complainant M, said he was coming off stage at the event when Mr Jones, who was seated at his table, approached him and kissed him.

“He kissed me close to my lips, not on the cheek, the side of my lips. And it was on my way back to the table,” M told the court.

“I recall thinking, like, ‘f*** what just happened? Why would someone do that? Why would he do that?’”

However Mr Jones’ defence argued it was not physically possible for the kiss to have occurred at the event.

They said photographs showed Mr Jones was on stage with M that night, and it was their case that he remained on stage for long periods in between the meals at the event.

‘Slowly went down my spine’

A Sydney executive told the court Mr Jones touched him on the bottom during an event in the Sydney CBD attended by about 15 to 20 people.

The man, known only as Complainant H, told the court he was standing with Mr Jones and two other men, when the broadcaster put his hand on his back and slid it down to his bottom.

“It was a hand on the upper back at first … his hand slowly went down my spine and then rested on my bottom,” H told the court.

He said that he did not react at the time and did not want to “cause a scene”.

H said he told his boss and a workmate about the alleged incident.

The court was told that in a later email to his bosses, H advocated for Mr Jones to be invited to another similar event.

And Mr Jones’ defence argued that the email was inconsistent with his complaint.

The teenager

The final complainant to give evidence during the trial told the court he was 17 when Mr Jones kissed him at his Fitzroy Falls farm.

The man, who can only be known as Complainant A, said he first came in contact with Mr Jones several years earlier when he contacted the broadcaster about his family’s financial hardship.

Over several years, Mr Jones gave his family more than $100,000 to help them renovate their home and used his connections at the Commonwealth Bank to renegotiate their mortgage and wipe $600,000 from the loan.

The man told the court he visited the property over a long weekend and alleged as they were saying goodnight, Mr Jones kissed him, stuck his tongue in his mouth and grabbed his buttock.

He told the court that he “recoiled”, stepped away and said “that’s enough Alan”.

A told the court he felt “violated” and washed his mouth with a loofah.

Mr Jones’ defence attacked the man’s credibility and cross examined him about an incident - unrelated to Mr Jones - which resulted in him presenting to hospital with head and leg injuries.

He told nurses, doctors and police he had been assaulted the night before.

He eventually admitted to a doctor the alleged incident had occurred two weeks prior.

He also manipulated one of his injuries to make it look more fresh to match his timeline and dressed back up in the clothes he was wearing two weeks prior before he presented to hospital, the court was told.

The trial continues.