The Allegations

by Mark Lawson

  It was beginning. But the plural allegations was sloppily wrong; he must get that corrected quickly. The headline misled her into hoping that it would be one of those anonymous teaser pieces – the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons – but, in the opening line, she found Professor Ned Marriott, 60, and worked out that he wasn’t identified in the banner in order to make surfers click to know who it was, possibly disappointed that it wasn’t the actor or comedian they had imagined. And now here she was: He has twenty-five-year-old twin daughters, Cordelia and Ophelia, by his first wife, college lecturer Jennifer Marriott, and a nine-year-old son, Toby, by his current partner, literary agent Emma Humpage, 41.

  She hated the way that, in the older media, women had children by men, making the mothers sound like brood-mares. Why didn’t they go the whole race-horse way and put out of? Surely it should be with. It was unclear to her, anyway, why the names and ages of the relatives of those involved in scandals were so precisely listed. She assumed the details were intended to quicken the moralism of readers, helping them to picture the women and children whose lives might have been destroyed by the accused or, if they hadn’t been, now might be by the reporting of the case.

  Guided by alerts, now arriving almost by the minute, Phee worked through the news sites. Within an hour, there was a version everywhere, headed or divided by a picture of Daddy, eyes glistening with what she hoped was sweat, pushing aside a hedge of hands and cameras. All of the later reports specified two historic sexual allegations, though most quoted his lawyer’s absolute denial of the claims.

  Unknown Number showed on her trembling, muted phone. From a sudden instinct of the hunted, she let it ring to voicemail, where she heard: ‘Ms Marriott? This is Graham Gardener from the Telegraph, at 2.45pm. I’m writing a piece about the rape charges against your father. I’m happy to talk to you on or off the record and you can reach me at.’

  Charges? Cutting him off before the first digit, she wondered if there would be hacks outside the flat when she left for college.

  It begins, she texted her sister. Poor poor D. What can we do? x

  But, after two hours, there had been no reply. She told herself that Dee had switched off her phone because of calls from the press.

  Charge Sheet

  Dent had suggested that they spoke in the cell, where the custody sergeant, as a compromise, did not quite close the door. When Ned said nothing, Claire encouraged him: ‘Lowish voice and we’ll be fine.’

  He was still silent. She prompted: ‘So – Jessamy – Jess – Pothick?’

  ‘Well … I mean, if you’d asked me yesterday who was the runner on the witches thing, I couldn’t have told you. The thing is, there were just so many …’

  Claire had an amused are-you-sure? look for moments when the client seemed about to say something dangerous.

  ‘No, what I mean is that I’ve worked with so many people on things … obviously once I think back to English witches, I’m sure she’s telling the truth …’

  It was never good to repeat the warning dare so quickly.

  ‘About having worked on it, I mean. It would be useful if they had a photograph …’

  ‘You know what, it probably wouldn’t …’

  ‘Of her. Look, I know this isn’t great but I often don’t tend to remember – even at the time, never mind afterwards – the names of my crews …’

  And the names of your screws? was the first line of dialogue her mind offered her, but she bowdlerized it down to: ‘And what was your reaction to her account in general?’

  ‘I … it’s difficult … we definitely didn’t have sex-sex …’

  ‘Thank you, Mr President. Her statement didn’t suggest that you did.’

  ‘No. Look, I’m not proud of any of this but … look, this is my problem … I think I’d drunk too much for anything to have happened but – because I’d drunk so much – I can’t remember if it didn’t …’

  So a jury would be left to decide between accounts retrieved from pickled synapses – a frequent feature of sex trials these days. The defence line would be that the participants were as bad as each other but the prosecution would argue that a fiftyyear-old man with an employee half his age should have known better.

  ‘Claire, how bad is this?’

  Doctors, when asked this question, had scans and tests. Lawyers had to second guess the conclusion of a dozen people who had so little to do during the day that they didn’t try to get out of jury service. Or, before it came to that, of a prosecution service that now seemed to want to delegate as many decisions as possible to the public.

  ‘If they do charge it, then there’s the question of the wording … the first one wouldn’t have gone anywhere near rape at the time it allegedly happened, but might now. Or possibly serious sexual assault. It’s the sort of thing Mr Assange is facing in Sweden. The second one – even as the code is written now – is probably closer to sexual assault by penetration …’

  ‘Okay, but obviously, from my perspective, it’s a bit like being told what kind of cancer you’ve got. When what you want to hear is that you’re clear …’

  ‘I understand what you’re saying. But, actually, that’s a good analogy. In both cases, there are some where you’ve got more chance of seeing your kids grow up. Juries are more likely to call the lesser charges as A said-B said and, if they don’t, judges are going to be reluctant to fill up a cell.’

  ‘I see all that. But those are legalistic distinctions. When it comes to media and social media …’

  ‘Yeah. Not so much.’

  ‘Claire, can I ask you something possibly touchy?’

  ‘Sure. If you won’t be touchy if I don’t answer.’

  ‘Is this tricky for you as a woman … ?’

  ‘Ned, I hope you’re not going to be sexist …’

  ‘I’m serious. For you to be dealing with this stuff?’

  Doctors are taught always to see their patients as bodies not buddies – clinical distance – and sensible lawyers soon learn a version – cases not mates – for themselves. But she liked it that Ned was even aware of the dilemma; some clients are so certain of their virtue that they act as if they are doing you a favour.

  ‘Well, the law school answer is that, if you’re asked to represent vegetarian terrorists who’ve blown up a burger bar, it’s irrelevant whether you like roast beef or nut roast on Sundays. In practice, I’m wary of being used as table decoration.’ She responded to Ned’s go-on face. ‘I mean, if I think someone’s trying to convince detectives or the jury that they can’t be a rapist or, indeed, a racist because I’m on their case, then I think at least twice. But I’ve acted for you before and so I know that’s not your game.’

  ‘I can assume, though, that you wouldn’t have taken it if you thought I was the new Yorkshire Ripper or whatever?’

  He had gone too far.

  ‘That sets the bar low and, you know what, Ned, I never think these conversations are useful.’

  Cuttings

  BLAIR CHUM BBC HITLER MAN IN ‘RAPE’ CLAIM

  One of the BBC’s highest-paid TV presenters, who is also a close friend and former adviser to ex-premier Tony Blair, is being investigated over two historic allegations of serious sexual offences, it was revealed yesterday.

  Professor Edmund ‘Ned’ Marriott, 60, has hosted a string of top-rating and award-winning documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and The History Channel, including Hitler: A Study in Evil, The English Witch Hunts and Elizabeth 1 – Elizabeth 2.

  Known as ‘Professor Perverse’ for his outrageous disrespect for historical fact – including a notorious attack on HM The Queen during her Diamond Jubilee as ‘a pointless figurehead paid tens of millions to cut ribbons’ – the controversial academic was appointed by the Blair government as ‘History Tsar’, advising on which aspects of the British past should be taught to schoolchildren.

  Doubts were raised about the appointment because Marriott is a self-confessed ‘half-Marxist’. In his work for Blai
r, the controversial don caused widespread outrage by downgrading national heroes such as Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill in favour of contemporary non-English figures such as Martin Luther King, Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela.

  It emerged yesterday that the father of three had been arrested and interviewed under caution last month on one allegation of rape involving a young woman and was interviewed by detectives again yesterday in connection with a second claim of sexual assault.

  An industry insider said last night that the arrest and questioning of a man who has been one of TV’s mostrespected figures represents ‘another shattering blow for British broadcasting’ after the thousands of sexual abuse and paedophilia allegations against the late BBC broadcaster Jimmy Savile, who died in October 2011 before any charges were brought, and another leading figure at the corporation, children’s and sports presenter Stuart Hall, who is currently serving a six-year jail term for charges of sexual assault against girls aged between nine and seventeen.

  No allegations have been made against Marriott involving children. But there were calls at Westminster last night for urgent inquiries into whether either the BBC or Blair might have been aware of the incidents involving him.

  Marriott’s solicitor, Claire Ellen, said as they left a West London police station: ‘Professor Marriott completely denies these allegations and is co-operating with detectives in order to refute them. We are deeply disappointed that the media appear to have been given advance information about his movements this morning and will be raising further questions about this. He asks for the privacy of himself and his family to be respected at this time.’

  Last night, there was no sign of occupancy at Marriott’s £1million elegant detached Edwardian town house in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, where the divorced broadcaster lives with his girlfriend, literary agent Emma Humphries, who is two decades his junior, and their seven-year-old son Tobias. A neighbour at the TV star’s £500,000 flat in West London’s Kensington, a district popular with figures in the left-wing media, said that he had not been seen there since before his arrest yesterday morning. Contacted separately, his twenty-six-year-old identical twin daughters, Fi and Dee, refused to comment.

  There was speculation online that the accused broadcaster and his current family may be staying at one of the numerous properties owned by Tony and Cherie Blair in London, Buckinghamshire and Bristol. A spokesman for the Blair Faith Foundation last night declined to comment ‘on any aspect of this matter at this stage.’

  A representative of Ogglebox, the production company that has made the majority of Marriott’s series, said last night that they ‘are not working on any projects with him at the moment’ and that it would be ‘inappropriate’ to comment on possible future commissions.

  Staff in the History Directorate at the University of Middle England, where Marriott has taught history for more than three decades, refused to speak to reporters but posted a statement online: ‘Professor Edmund Marriott is currently serving a precautionary suspension on full pay as he answers charges that have no connection with his employment at the university. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.’

  Police declined to say anything beyond the statement: ‘A sixty-year-old Winslow man has been questioned by detectives about two historic allegations of serious sexual assault. He has been released on police bail until October 1.’

  The History Channel announced last night that it had decided to postpone three planned repeat screenings this month of Marriott’s Nazi documentary, Hitler: A Study in Evil because of ‘respect for the sensitivity of the situation.’

  Take Care

  He was aware that almost everyone he now met – or spoke to on the phone, or even e-mailed – ended the conversation with the same words: ‘Take care, Ned.’ Or, from some, ‘Take care, won’t you?’ or ‘Take care of yourself, okay?’, the phrase delivered with a tenderly apprehensive parental inflection (even when not from his mother) and, in face to face meetings, a solemn inclination of the head to match the lowered tone.

  It was true that, before the fall, he had sometimes been encouraged to take care of himself, but, then, it had merely been a platitude. Now, it was a fearful pleading, a worried instruction, a euphemism that meant: ‘You’re not going to kill yourself, are you?’

  Cuttings (2)

  ‘PERVERSE’ TV PROF ‘RAPE’ RAPS

  A BBC star, who advises politicians on what to teach kids, has become the latest celebrity questioned over sex allegations in the wake of the shaming of paedo hosts Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall.

  Known as ‘Prof Perverse’, due to his wacky opinions, 60-year-old Ned Marriott has made publicly funded TV films calling Sir Winston Churchill ‘a war criminal’, HM The Queen ‘a pointless expense’ and Adolf Hitler a ‘genius.’ And, during an appearance on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, he proudly described himself as a ‘half-Marxist’.

  As an adviser to PM Tony Blair, he also outraged parents and teachers by urging that British kids should study black radical leaders instead of kings and queens of Great Britain.

  The divorced dad of three has denied to detectives allegations of raping or sexually assaulting young women on two occasions in the past.

  But, as the investigation continues, the perverse prof was last night ‘suspended’ from teaching at top university UME, while the BBC said that it had no plans to work with him again.

  Legal Advice

  ‘Surely I can fucking sue them, Claire? It’s outrageous …’

  ‘Okay. Simply, practically, it’s hard to bring a case of defamation while you’re facing allegations of …’

  ‘But what I called Hitler – I’ve got the script here – is an “evil genius of malevolent divisive rhetoric”. I didn’t say he was a fucking genius. And all this Professor Perverse stuff, readers are supposed to read it or think it as pervert …’

  ‘Yes. It’s clever journalism.’

  ‘Clever, Claire? It’s fucking evil!’

  ‘The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I’ve met clever murderers. It doesn’t imply approval. Being known to friends as “Foxy Knoxy” doesn’t mean you murdered someone in a sex game gone wrong in Italy but the court of public opinion decided it did. Be careful with your monickers, I guess, is the moral.’

  ‘Right. But with the Hitler and Savile bits, it’s supposed to make me sound like a Nazi paedo. How is that not contempt of court?’

  ‘Yes, it might be prejudicial to a jury and we’d address that if it came to it. But at the moment, this isn’t anywhere near court.’

  ‘Well, let’s get it there so I can clear my name …’

  ‘Ned, clients often think that. And I understand why. But a trial – especially a defamation one – is like paying two million quid for a hotel room that may have a sheer drop behind the door.’

  ‘But it’s so fucking sloppy, Claire! Half of it’s vicious and the other half is vicious and wrong. Emma gets four different surnames, my children change age between papers and sometimes between paragraphs. Can’t we even get those corrected?’

  ‘Yeah, we could, but there’s whether we should. Some of us reckon that the hacks do it on purpose, so that they can repeat the central allegation in denying it. “In our report ‘TV Star Arrested For Rape’, we inadvertently mis-stated the names of his much-younger girlfriend and the name and age of his illegitimate son.” You get the idea?’

  ‘I’m getting it. And now you’ll tell me that it’s all right for them to say … “rape” when that isn’t actually the charge?’

  ‘It’s within the charging band, the worst they could throw at you. Again, the papers probably know what they’re doing. How much good does it do us to have a correction that it might only turn out to be serious sexual assault? You sound as if you’re plea-bargaining rather than innocent and every woman with a Twitter account complains that you’re playing the not-reallyrape-rape card. Look up how that one went for Oprah. And, for all we know, Dent may be briefing the press with the serious end
to see if it flushes out other claims.’

  ‘So you’re saying I just have to take it?’

  ‘That’s basically all that’s open to you at this stage. Ned, I fully realize how shit it feels now, but this stuff won’t go beyond today. Even the chancers won’t write much now until we know the outcome of the bail. You might turn up in lists of the accused. But that’s … I’m not going to say all.’

  ‘Good. Thanks.’

  Cuttings (3)

  THE MOLE

  As Professor Edmund ‘Ned’ Marriott, BBC history presenter and close friend of Tony Blair, sweats it out on police bail over allegations of historic sex offences (which he denies), he still has the support of Emma Humpage, his partner of ten years.

  The 40-year-old literary agent has a son, nine-year-old Toby, by the divorced dad of two who, ironically, celebrated his 60th birthday with a swanky £100,000 London party the night before his arrest by Operation Millpond detectives at his £500,000 pied-à-terre in a trendy West London square.

  But ‘Em’, as she is known to friends and clients, may be rather nervously checking the Most Played list on the Prof’s iPod. The Mole has been listening to an edition of Desert Island Discs from 2008, on which the telly don’s choices included Tom Jones’s ‘Delilah’ and the finale from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was during the same broadcast that the academic notoriously confessed to being a ‘half-Marxist’.

  As fans of the big-tonsilled Welshman will know, ‘Delilah’ is a lament by a man who has just stabbed his girlfriend to death because of her infidelity and who explains why he did what he did just before the police come and ‘break down his door’. And, while readers of this publication are too cultured to need telling what the Spanish Don was famous for, they might run to their libretti for a refresh of the history don’s particular choice from the opera – sung after the sex offender has gone down, the finale Questo è il fin di chi fa mal, e de’ perfidi la morte alla vita è sempre ugual translates as: Such is the end of the evildoer: the death of a sinner always reflects his life!