Late British MP accused of molesting girls

Two women have come forward to accuse a late British broadcaster and MP of molesting them when they were children, claims that will be aired in a TV show.

The late British broadcaster and MP Clement Freud has been accused of abusing two girls between the late 1940s and 1970s.

Sylvia Woosley, who first met Freud when she was 10 and later went to live with him when her mother's marriage broke down, claims in an ITV Exposure documentary that he molested her over several years.

A second woman, who wants to remain anonymous, alleged that the Liberal politician also abused her as a child and raped her when she was 18.

In a statement released in response to the program, his widow Jill Freud, 89, said she was "deeply saddened and profoundly sorry for what has happened to these women".

In the program, due to be broadcast on Wednesday, Woosley, now in her late 70s, said: "I just want to clear things up before I die ... I want to die clean.

"Having been so hard on myself, trying to destroy myself so many times, you can't bury the truth forever, it needs to be heard."

She told the program she first met Freud, known as Clay, when he was aged 24 and worked at the Martinez hotel in Cannes in the late 1940s. She was 10 and her family was living in the south of France.

Woosley claims he kissed her on the mouth during a bus trip. She said: "I was disgusted and helpless. I just didn't react in any way because I couldn't. I didn't know what to do."

From the age of 14, when she lived with Freud and his wife in London for five years, she claims that he frequently molested her.

The second woman said she first met Freud in 1971 at her family home as a "lonely, neglected and socially isolated" 11-year-old.

Then a celebrity, he would call her on the phone and tell her she was special and intelligent, and was treated as a surrogate father figure by her parents, she said.

Two years later, after he was elected as an MP, he would take her on trips to parliament and his home, and would kiss her on the mouth and hug her.

When she was 14, she claims Freud asked her and another friend of the same age: "Would you like to get naked and have some fun?"

Four years later, in June 1978, when she was 18, the woman alleges that he came over to her parents' flat and "brutally and perfunctorily" raped her.

Writer, broadcaster and politician Freud, who died at his desk aged 84 in 2009, was a celebrated food, sport and comment print journalist, and also enjoyed a long career as a television and radio personality in the UK.


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world