Annette Sharp: Leigh Sales and charged SSO musician Ben Jacks had relationship

ABC host Leigh Sales had a short-lived relationship with SSO musician Ben Jacks, who was charged with having non-consensual sex with a woman last year. He has denied the accusation.

Leigh Sales had a short-lived relationship with a Sydney Symphony Orchestra musician who has been charged with having non-consensual sex with a woman last year.

Sources close to Sales confirmed the relationship between the 7.30 anchor and SSO principal horn player Ben Jacks. It ended in 2020.

Leigh Sales speaks during a Sydney Media Club lunch in Sydney in March last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Following the breakdown of the ABC presenter’s 20-year marriage to schoolteacher Phil Willis in 2016, Sales embarked on a relationship with Jacks, 46, a divorcee and father.

The musician fronted a Sydney court last month on a charge of sexually assaulting a woman, not Sales, who is understood to have been known to him.

The 46-year-old is expected to vigorously defend the charge when the matter goes to trial in December.

SSO musician Ben Jacks has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

News of Jacks’s arrest rocked the prestigious music company when his arrest came to light in June 2021.

He stepped away from his orchestral commitments to focus on the upcoming legal battle.

The intensely private Sales, 48, has kept a tight lid on her love life since the breakdown of her marriage.

Sources last week suggested Sales, a music buff who loves musical theatre and plays the piano proficiently, embarked on her relationship with Jacks after the pair bonded over a mutual love of music.

Sales, who last week said she would step down from 7.30 after the forthcoming federal election, could not be reached for comment on Saturday. An ABC spokesman also refused to comment. A spokeswoman for the SSO also did not return calls.

Jacks spent two days behind bars before being granted strict conditional bail in Newtown Local Court in June 2021.

The revelation caps a challenging year Sales, who has struggled with backlash after she polarised Victorians following a press conference with Premier Dan Andrews by being critical of short-term Covid lockdowns.

As the online trolling intensified, Sales took a break from 7.30 in July last year, followed by a longer break at Christmas amid concern for her mental health and a positive Covid diagnosis. She informed viewers she was stepping away after 11½ years so that she might see more of her sons, aged 10 and 8.

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