Alan Jones has been arrested at his apartment in Sydney by NSW Police over allegations he indecently assaulted, groped or inappropriately touched multiple young men.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Jones, 83, was arrested on Monday morning at his Circular Quay apartment and taken to Day Street Police Station.
Police issued a short statement about the arrest.
‘Following extensive inquiries, about 7.45am today, strike force detectives executed a search warrant at a unit in Circular Quay where they arrested an 83-year-old man,’ the statement said.
‘The search warrant is underway.’
Nine newspapers first reported allegations against Jones almost a year ago, including claims Jones inappropriately kissed and groped a 17-year-old schoolboy who visited his sprawling Southern Highlands estate in 2017.
The allegations relate almost exclusively to his time at Sydney’s leading talkback station, 2GB, but predate its current ownership by Nine Radio.
Jones has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers have described the allegations against him as demonstrably false and defamatory.
Bryan Wrench, one of Australia’s most prominent defence lawyers, is understood to have rushed to Jones’s apartment on news of the arrest.
Breaking his silence in a five-minute clip in March, Jones said he ‘refuted’ the allegations against him ‘entirely and the inferences associated with them’.
Jones said he had ‘every intention of returning to broadcasting eventually’, but sources close to the broadcaster said he had no intention of returning to the spotlight in the immediate future and remained on ‘indefinite’ leave.
He claimed medical ailments had kept him from appearing on right-wing online video producer ADH (Australian Digital Holdings) TV, which distributes its materials to video-sharing and social media platforms.
‘The get-Jones campaign is nothing new in my life,’ Jones said in the video.
‘I am not going to dwell, here, on the allegations made about me other than to say that I refute them entirely and the inferences associated with them.’
Daily Mail Australia reported earlier this month that NSW Police were quietly probing claims Jones abused his powerful position as Sydney’s reigning talkback radio king.
Sources familiar with the investigation said detectives had spoken with a number of alleged victims.
The Sydney Morning Herald has also canvassed allegations going back almost 60 years when Jones was beginning his working life, which has included stints as a Prime Ministerial speech writer, Wallabies rugby union coach and teacher at Brisbane Grammar and The King’s College.
A former 2GB employee has alleged Jones repeatedly indecently assaulted him.
The man said at the age of 20 he was hired to do menial jobs including driving the Jones from the station’s Pyrmont studios to his apartment in the Circular Quay building, dubbed The Toaster.
Jones made a rare public appearance in July when was a guest speaker at a dinner to celebrate Matt Canavan’s 10th anniversary in the Senate at The Paddock restaurant in the coastal town of Yeppoon, just outside Rockhampton, in Queensland.
He appeared in good spirits as he smiled while posing for photographs with other attendees, including Liberal National Party representatives Donna Kirkland and Glen Kelly and former Labor Party powerbroker Graham Richardson.
