TV weatherman Fred Talbot has been charged by Greater Manchester police over a string of child sex allegations spanning 14 years.
The former ITV This Morning presenter, 63, is accused of abusing five men who claim he assaulted them when they teenagers while he was a teacher.
Three of the complainants say they were under 16 at the time.
Talbot had been under investigation for 13 months after he was accused of historic sex offences upon former pupils at a boys grammar school where he used to teach biology.
He was also being investigated over his career at two former comprehensive schools in the North East of England where he was a trainee teacher in the 1960s.
Today Greater Manchester Police police confirmed Talbot had been charged with eight offences of indecent assault against three boys under 16.
He is also accused of one offence of indecent against a boy aged 17 years and one offence of buggery against a 19-year-old man. All the allegations related to incidents between 1969 until 1983 when Talbot quit education to go into TV.
He is due to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on February 11. Talbot was pictured leaving his home in Bowdon, near Altrincham at 10am to answer bail at a nearby police station where he was charged.
Six counts of indecent assault relate to incidents involving one victim who attended a school in Newcastle at the time.
The other offences relate to three victims who attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys at the time. The allegations relating to the first four complainants date from 1969 to 1977.
The buggery charge from 1983 relates to an offence involving a former pupil at Altrincham Grammar.
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “We have carefully considered all the evidence gathered by Greater Manchester Police in relation to allegations from five complainants that Fred Talbot sexually assaulted them between the 1960s and 1980s.
”Having completed our review, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Talbot to be charged with 10 sexual offences relating to five complainants, three of whom were under 16 years of age at the time.
”The Crown Prosecution Service has today authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Fred Talbot with these offences.
“This decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and our guidance for prosecutors on sexual offences. May I remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Talbot have now commenced.
”He has a right to a fair trial and it is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could prejudice these proceedings. For these reasons, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.”
Talbot, who became famous for his ‘floating map’ reports in Liverpool’s Albert Dock for Richard and Judy’s This Morning show on ITV, was investigated after publicity about a separate investigation into allegations of historic sexual abuse of pupils at a nearby Catholic boys school.
He was on a cruise in the Caribbean when his 18th century home was raided on December 11 last year.
Officers investigating a string of historic sex offences upon four schoolboys at Altrincham Grammar School in Greater Manchester searched the property for clues. But they spent a further four months investigating before swooping on the weatherman in April.
He was questioned on suspicion of three counts of indecent assault and four counts of inciting a child to commit acts of gross indecency before being freed on bail.
The first set allegations relate to the bachelor’s time as a teacher at Altrincham between the early 1970s to early 1980s, while the four victims were pupils – although police stressed the allegations do not relate to alleged incidents on school premises.
Later police widened the inquiry over his career at the Saltwell Senior High School in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear and Slatyford Comprehensive in Newcastle between the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Police are appealing for former pupils at Saltwell – which was demolished in the 1990s – and Slatyford which closed around ten years ago to come forward if they had information about Talbot.
Talbot is thought to have got his first jobs at Saltwell and Slatyford in 1968 as part of his college teaching practise. He left Tyne and Wear after he qualified as a teacher in the early 1970s to take up a post at the 1,100 pupil Altrincham school.
Detectives are also believed to be examining allegations relating to school trips in Scotland.
Talbot has been taken ‘off air’ at ITV’s Granada Reports North West news programme although he was not formally suspended as he works on a freelance basis.
Brought up in Altrincham Talbot was a pupil at North Cestrian Grammar School and in 1964 was a founding member of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society.
He co-discovered a meteor shower, the June Lyrids, in June 1966. He was appointed biology master at Altrincham Grammar in the 1970s and went into TV in 1984.
During one famous incident whilst presenting the weather on This Morning at Albert Dock in Liverpool, a streaker swam naked up to the map and jumped on.
In 1998, Talbot was named ‘Weatherman of the year’ at the Annual International Weather Festival in Paris and also acted as a weather forecaster on ITV Breakfast programme Daybreak.
Image courtesy of ITV via Youtube, with thanks
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