Fallen radio king: Arrest in London toilet a low point

While his charges are the talk of the moment, a run-in with the law involving a London public toilet also saw Alan Jones hit the headlines 35 years ago.

• Alan Jones and his high profile supporters

While his charges are the talk of the moment, a run-in with the law involving a London public toilet also saw Alan Jones hit the headlines 35 years ago.

In December 1988, Jones was charged with outraging public decency and committing an indecent act after he was arrested by plain clothes police inside a toilet block in Soho during a visit to the UK.

Author Chris Masters claimed in his 2006 biography on Jones, titled Jonestown, that the officers involved had seen Jones enter the toilets and became suspicious after he remained there for an extended period of time, arresting him inside.

Jones, who was a 2UE broadcaster and Wallabies rugby union coach at the time, was plastered across the front of Australian newspapers when the news broke.

Australian broadcaster Alan Jones arriving at Marlborough Street Court in London. Picture: London Sun.

Jones was Wallabies rugby union coach at the time.

Jones has always strenuously denied any allegations of wrongdoing. In an interview from London at the time, he told Nine’s A Current Affair: “I am proudly a moral person and a decent person and I’ve maintained that morality and decency right throughout my life.”

Alan Jones pictured as he leaves Day St Police Station yesterday. Picture: NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Prosecutors withdrew the public indecency charge in court the next day, while Jones entered a not guilty plea for the second charge, which was also dropped by authorities before Christmas. Jones’ legal team was later awarded £70 in legal costs for the matter.

Speaking of the incident when he returned to the airwaves in the month following, Jones claimed, “I am and always was innocent of the charges levelled against me.”

Originally published as Fallen radio king: Arrest in London toilet a low point