Alan Jones trial live updates: Cross-examination of Ray Hadley begins over former 2GB broadcaster’s conversations with complainant ‘C’

Hello and thank you for reading our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. I will be bringing you the latest developments today with my colleagues Clare Sibthorpe and Harriet Alexander.

Former 2GB heavyweight Ray Hadley, a long-time colleague of Jones, started giving evidence in the trial on Tuesday. He returns to the witness box today.

Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent spanning six complainants and a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. He denies the allegations.

Hadley’s evidence relates to a conversation he had with one of the complainants, a man known as “C”, in 2019. Here are the key parts of his testimony so far.

• Hadley said complainant “C” told him in 2019 that Jones had “put his hand on my c--- and kissed me” on a number of occasions some years earlier.
• “I asked him if he was homosexual, and whether he was consenting to it,” Hadley said. “He broke down and cried and said, ‘no, I hated it. I’m not homosexual’.”
• Hadley said he comforted “C” during the conversation and told him it was not his fault. He offered to take the complainant to the police, he said, but “C” had insisted he did not want to do this because Jones was “too powerful”.
• Hadley told the court that author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald, had been investigating allegations against Jones and that he facilitated a phone call between “C” and FitzSimons in 2019.
• At this stage the complainant’s identity was kept secret from FitzSimons and the allegations were not reported, the court has heard.
• In 2023 the Herald’s chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont spoke to “C”, the court heard, and his allegations were published in an anonymised form. Hadley agreed he discussed the article on air.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.

Latest Posts

Prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, is taking Hadley to his statement to police dated June 25, 2024.

She asks him to read to himself a small part of the statement before turning the document over so that he can’t read it further.

He agrees that it has helped refresh his memory about what “C” told him about Jones allegedly kissing him in the lift.

“I recall there were two lifts mentioned, and a home mentioned,” Hadley said.

Ray Hadley’s evidence was temporarily delayed on Tuesday afternoon after a legal issue arose.

Judge Glenn Walsh delivered a short decision on Wednesday morning before Hadley was asked to return to the witness box.

For most of the 35 years that radio titans Alan Jones and Ray Hadley were stablemates and professional rivals at 2UE and 2GB, Jones had the upper hand. He had the prestige breakfast slot and the ratings to match, while Hadley, who in any other world would have been undisputed king, barked at his debonair behind.

As Hadley took his seat in the witness stand to provide evidence against Jones on Tuesday afternoon, in what must surely have been the most galling development in their relationship, Jones continued to turn the other cheek.

Read more from Harriet Alexander here.

Former 2GB host Jason Morrison, who is now The Daily Telegraph’s chief of staff, spent a week in the witness box and only concluded his evidence on Monday morning.

He was asked about comments Ray Hadley made about him on air, as well as about the lunch in Sydney where “C” alleges Alan Jones touched him under the table.

Morrison told the court in unequivocal terms that he did not witness the alleged touching. However, he recalled that there were jokes at the lunch about “C” and Jones looking like “a great couple”.

He said the joke was because Jones put his arm around the shoulders of “C” at one point during the lunch. Morrison insisted that if he had seen Jones touch “C” under the table he would have raised the incident.

Much of the evidence in Alan Jones’ trial over the past week has been about a lunch in Sydney almost 20 years ago.

Complainant “C”, who was a young man at the time, has alleged Jones put his hand under the table and touched him on the penis over his clothing while they were sitting next to each other at the lunch. Jones denies the allegation.

The Crown has called guests at the lunch to give evidence in the trial. Jason Morrison, a former 2GB host, told the court he did not see the alleged touching.

However, he said there were jokes at the event about “C” and Jones looking like “a great couple” because the broadcaster put his arm around the complainant’s shoulders. Morrison said that if he had seen the alleged touching he would have spoken to Jones.

Of the 22 charges in the trial, eight indecent assault charges relate to “C”.

Warning: Graphic content

Hello and thank you for reading our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. I will be bringing you the latest developments today with my colleagues Clare Sibthorpe and Harriet Alexander.

Former 2GB heavyweight Ray Hadley, a long-time colleague of Jones, started giving evidence in the trial on Tuesday. He returns to the witness box today.