Police lay two additional assault charges against Alan Jones

Broadcaster Alan Jones has been charged with an additional two assault offences against a ninth alleged victim, bringing the total number of charges to 26.

Police on Tuesday said, after receiving legal advice, they were able to lay two additional charges of assault with an act of indecency. His current list of charges includes 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault, which can attract a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.

Detectives have said they expect Monday’s arrest of the Sydney radio host and former Wallabies coach will trigger a new wave of potential victims to come forward in addition to the eight who have been interviewed during a top-secret, months-long investigation by the State Crime Command’s child abuse squad, codenamed Strike Force Bonnefin.

Alan Jones leaves Day Street police station on bail on Monday.Credit: James Brickwood

Jones will face Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on December 18 on charges that also include nine counts of assault with an act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching another person without their consent and two counts of common assault. The charges span two decades to 2019.

The strike force was established after a major investigation last year by the Herald and The Age, which detailed allegations of indecent assault and inappropriate sexual touching involving a number of victims. Jones denied the claims at the time and threatened to sue.

The former 2GB star looked shell-shocked as his legal team ushered him away from Day Street Police Station at 5.10pm. It is understood Jones declined to be interviewed, citing legal advice.

Wearing a forest green designer tracksuit, he made no comment as the media scrum peppered him with questions including “are you a sexual predator?” and “did you do it?” Photographers and camera operators swarmed a waiting car as Jones sat expressionless inside.

Jones knew some of his alleged victims personally, some professionally and, in some circumstances, the alleged abuse took place the first time they met Jones. One was aged 17 when an offence against him allegedly occurred.

Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett said Jones was “quite calm” when officers armed with a search warrant arrived at his luxury apartment on the sixth floor of the Bennelong Apartments, overlooking the Sydney Opera House, at 7.45am on Monday.

After being arrested and calling for legal assistance, Jones watched on as police spent hours searching his house. A number of his electronic devices were seized.

At 11.30am, he was whisked away by police in a small white Hyundai and taken for questioning at Day Street station, where he was met by criminal lawyers Chris Murphy and Bryan Wrench.

“Nothing has been tested. Nothing has been proven. Alan Jones will assert his innocence appropriately in the courtroom,” Murphy said.

He said Jones “denies any misconduct”.

Jones’ bail conditions include surrendering his passport and not approaching points of departure from Australia.

He was also ordered not to “stalk, harass or intimidate any prosecution witness or complainant” or to identify any of the alleged victims to anyone except his lawyers.

At an afternoon press conference, Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald from State Crime Command thanked his investigators for their “tenacity and hard work” since the strike force was formed in March.

“These are serious charges,” Fitzgerald said before commending the alleged victims for “their bravery in coming forward”.

He also said the victims had co-operated with the police knowing – as did investigators – “that the hard work is just beginning”.

Asked about the creation of the strike force this year, Fitzgerald said reporting by the Herald and The Age was the catalyst for the probe.

The reports, denied by Jones at the time, included that he had indecently assaulted, groped or inappropriately touched a number of young men.

“The reports in the Herald and The Age did result in victims coming forward and the creation of Strike Force Bonnefin, but … a number of witnesses have also been assisting police over the years,” he said.

Fitzgerald said the “energy that was generated out of those newspaper articles” encouraged people to speak to the police.

“We believe we will have more people coming forward,” he said.

More alleged victims have contacted the Herald and The Age since Jones’ arrest.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the arrest came after a “very long, thorough, protracted investigation”, and she also expected more people might come forward with allegations.

“I did visit the strike force some weeks and months ago to look at the work that they have been doing. It is very complex and protracted, and I know those officers have been working tirelessly to lead today’s operation,” she said.

“I can’t speculate in this particular case, but what is often the case is when it is known – the full circumstances and those parties involved – other people may come forward.”

Premier Chris Minns said he understood the public interest in the case but said he would not offer running commentary.

During his 35 years as the most successful and feared broadcaster of his generation, Jones is also alleged to have indecently assaulted several young men.

Police arrive at Alan Jones’ apartment building in Circular Quay on Monday morning.Credit: Kate Geraghty

One former 2GB employee has alleged he was repeatedly indecently assaulted by Jones.

Brad Webster (not his real name) told the Herald and The Age last year: “If I went to the police, Jones could be charged. What he did to me was a criminal offence. He cannot die without people knowing what he’s done.”

Jones was 65 when Webster was hired at age 20 to do menial jobs, including driving the radio star from the station’s Pyrmont studios to his apartment in the Circular Quay building, dubbed The Toaster.

“During those 10 minutes, it would be wandering hands, and then it just gradually became him grabbing my dick … you’re driving, you’re absolutely trapped … he’d go the grope, he’d rub my penis,” Webster said.

Jones is also alleged to have kissed him in the lift and exposed himself at his apartment.

Like many others, Webster knew he would be destroyed if he complained.

Several men from the arts community have alleged that Jones assaulted them at his apartment.

One, a musician, said he didn’t say anything to anyone because Jones was immensely powerful, and no one wanted to risk getting the broadcaster offside. “You get on the wrong side, and he’ll ruin you,” he said.

In 2008, a waiter who was 22 at the time said he was working at a Kiama restaurant when an inebriated Jones grabbed and fondled his penis without consent.

The late tech entrepreneur Alex Hartman, who died in 2019, told four journalists Jones had indecently assaulted him as a teenager. “I was his prey. I know I am not the only one, and this will come out somehow.” Hartman also said Jones “forces himself on young men and uses his power in a predatory way”.

In January 2017, a then-schoolboy told the Herald and The Age he was invited to spend a weekend at Jones’ Fitzroy Falls property in the NSW Southern Highlands. The broadcaster had taken an interest in the boy’s family following numerous difficulties, including the death of the boy’s sister.

Jones after being granted bail on Monday. Credit: Wolter Peeters

The boy later gave a statement to police in which he alleged that he and Jones, who was 75 at the time, watched a movie before Jones passionately kissed him on the lips and placed his left hand on the boy’s buttocks. He pushed Jones away. Later, he told police he went to the bathroom “with my loofah and soap and began scrubbing my mouth, inside and out, as much as I could”.

He later told his mother that someone with “power and money” had done “something to him which he shouldn’t have”.

Jones denied the allegations raised by the Herald and The Age in December 2023 and threatened to sue. A concerns notice sent to the mastheads at the time by lawyer Mark O’Brien demanded the articles be removed from online and the publication of a front-page apology. It also said Jones should be paid compensation in addition to his legal costs.

“The allegations are false and have no basis in fact,” O’Brien said.

“Over many years, certain journalists employed by Nine (formerly Fairfax) newspapers have been resentful of our client’s prominence as a commentator on many political and cultural issues, and the malicious and concocted allegations giving rise to the imputations constitute a concerted attempt to destroy our client’s reputation.”

A concerns notice is the first step towards commencing defamation proceedings, but it does not institute proceedings. Jones is yet to commence legal action.

With Jessica McSweeney, Perry Duffin and Daniel Lo Surdo

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.