A defence solicitor indecently assaulted a defendant moments before he appeared at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court charged with murder, a jury has been told. 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 told the jury that police came to see him in June 2016 at HMP Dartmoor where he was serving a prison sentence for murder. 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 2 December, 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 retained 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.
Male G told the jury that he remained at the house and that Harris came to sit next to him on the sofa. Male G said he was 'very small' at that age, whereas Harris had ‘always been a big guy’. He said Harris 'scooped' him up and put him onto his lap 'and tried to kiss me'. He explained that he was scared of Harris and the situation was ‘quite intimidating’ and that 'you know you rely on this guy to help you in the future and I didn’t know how far it was going to go'.
Male G said he did not tell anyone about Harris’s alleged offending as he 'would not be believed' adding 'I don’t even want to be here today talking about it'.
He told the jury he spoke to another person who approached him in HMP Exeter about Harris but did not come forward to police at that time. He said he was also approached by another person in HMP Dartmoor in 2024 about Harris. The jury had previously been told these two people have also made complaints about Harris and were witnesses in the trial.
In answer to questions from defence barrister Christine Agnew KC, he said that there were a lot of sex offenders in HMP Dartmoor and the topic was often raised by convicts. He said the issue of sexual assault had ‘dominated’ his life ever since. Agnew KC suggested Male G had made up the allegations and had 'jumped on the bandwagon' after hearing rumours about Harris while in prison. He retorted that the only rumours he had heard were about Harris patting people in the bottom as a kind of joke.
In response to being accused of lying and making the entire complaint up, Male G said: 'Miss, I’ve got no reason to be lying to you. This isn’t something that is easy to talk about in front of a load of strangers.'
Harris denies offences against nine complainants between 1989 and 2015. The trial continues.
